FTP Forwarding Agent(3.0)
The FTP forwarding agent sends files to a remote host by using the standard FTP (RFC 959) protocol. Files are created when a Begin Batch message is received and closed when an End Batch message is received. In addition, the agent offers the possibility to compress (gzip) the files.
To ensure that downstream systems will not use the files until they are closed, they are maintained in a temporary directory on the remote host until the End Batch message is received. This behavior is also used for Cancel Batch messages. If a Cancel Batch is received, file creation is cancelled.
The FTP forwarding agent supports IPv4 and IPv6 environments.
You open the FTP forwarding agent configuration dialog from a workflow configuration: you can right-click the agent icon and select Configuration..., or double-click the agent icon.
Configuration
The FTP Forwarding agent consists of four tabs: Connection, Target, Advanced and Backlog.
Connection Tab
See the description for the figure, The FTP collection agent configuration - Connection tab in FTP Collection Agent.
Target Tab
Setting | Description |
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Input Type | The agent can act on two input types: bytearray or MultiForwardingUDR. The default input type is bytearray. If nothing else is stated, the documentation refers to input of type bytearray. For more information, see MultiForwardingUDR(3.0). |
Directory | Absolute pathname of the target directory on the remote host, where the forwarded files will be placed. The pathname may also be given relative to the home directory of the user's account. The files will be temporarily stored in the automatically created subdirectory |
Create Directory | Select this check box to create the directory, or the directory structure, of the path that you specify in Directory. Note! The directories are created when the workflow is executed. |
Compression | Compression type of the target files. Determines if the agent will compress the files before storage or not.
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If you require to create empty files, check this setting. | |
Select the behavior of the agent when the file already exists, the alternatives are:
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If this option is selected, the agent will move the file to a temporary directory before moving it to the target directory. After the whole file has been transferred to the target directory, and the | |
If there is no write access to the target directory and, hence, a temporary directory cannot be created, the agent can move the file to a temporary file that is stored directly in the target directory. After the whole file has been transferred, and the The temporary filename is unique for every execution of the workflow. It consists of a workflow and agent ID, and a file number. | |
Select how to handle the file in case of cancelBatch or rollback, either Delete Temporary File or Leave Temporary File. Note! When a workflow aborts, the file will not be removed until the next time the workflow is run. |
Advanced Tab
Setting | Description |
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Command Port | The value in this field defines which port number the FTP service will use on the remote host. |
The maximum time, in seconds, to wait for response from the server. 0 (zero) means to wait forever. | |
Must be enabled if FTP passive mode is used for data connection. In passive mode, the channel for data transfer between client and server is initiated by the client instead of by the server. This is useful when a firewall is situated between the client and the server. | |
Additional Hosts | List of additional host names or IP addresses that may be used to access the target directory for file storage. These hosts are tried, in sequence from top to bottom, if the agent fails to connect to the remote host set in theConnection tab. Use the , , ,  and  buttons to configure the host list. |
Note!
The names of the created files are determined by the settings in the Filename Template tab. The use and setting of private threads for an agent, enabling multi-threading within a workflow, is configured in the Thread Buffer tab. For further information, see Thread Buffer Tab in Workflow Template (3.0).
Backlog Tab
The Backlog tab contain configurations related to backlog functionality. If the backlog is not enabled, the files will be moved directly to their final destination when an end batch message is received. If the backlog however is enabled, the files will first be moved to a directory called DR_POSTPONED_MOVE_DIR and then to their final destination. Refer to Retrieves in FTP Forwarding Agent Input/Output Data and MIMs(3.0) for further information about transaction behavior.
When backlog is initialized and when backlogged files are transferred a note is registered in the System Log.
Setting | Description |
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Enable Backlog | Check to enable backlog functionality. |
Directory | Base directory in which the agent will create sub directories to handle backlogged files. Absolute or relative path names can be used. |
Type | Files is the maximum number of files allowed in the backlog folder. Bytes is the total sum (size) of the files that resides in the backlog folder. If a limit is exceeded the workflow will abort. |
Size | Enter the maximum number of files or bytes that the backlog folder can contain. |
Processing Order | Determine the order by which the backlogged data will be processed once connection is reestablished, select between First In First Out (FIFO) or Last In First Out (LIFO). |
Duplicate File Handling | Specifies the behavior if a file with the same file name as the one being transferred is detected. The options are Abort or Overwrite and the action is taken both when a file is transferred to the target directory or to the backlog. |