FTP Forwarding Agent(3.3)

Owned by Jenni Wallin
Oct 02, 2023
4 min read

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

SettingDescription

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 DR_TMP_DIR in the target directory. When an endBatch message is received, the files are moved from the subdirectory to the target directory.

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.

  • No Compression - Agent does  not  compress the files.

  • Gzip - agent compresses the files using gzip.

    Note!

    No extra extension will be appended to the target filenames, even if compression is selected.

Produce Empty Files

If you require to create empty files, check this setting.

Handling of Already Existing Files

Select the behavior of the agent when the file already exists, the alternatives are:

  • Overwrite - The old file will be overwritten and a warning will be logged in the System Log.

  • Add Suffix - If the file already exists the suffix ".1" will be added. If this file also exists the suffix ".2" will be tried instead and so on.

  • Abort - This is the default selection and is the option used for upgraded configurations, that is workflows from an upgraded system.

Use Temporary Directory

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 endBatch message has been received, the temporary file is removed from the temporary directory.

Use Temporary File

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 endBatch message has been received, the temporary file will be renamed.

The temporary filename is unique for every execution of the workflow. It consists of a workflow and agent ID, and a file number.

Abort Handling

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

SettingDescription

Command Port

The value in this field defines which port number the FTP service will use on the remote host.

Timeout(s)

The maximum time, in seconds, to wait for response from the server. 0 (zero) means to wait forever.

Passive Mode (PASV)

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 Add, Edit, Remove, Move up and Move down 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(3.3) for further information about transaction behavior.

When backlog is initialized and when backlogged files are transferred a note is registered in the System Log.

SettingDescription

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.