SFTP Collection Agent Configuration(3.3)
- Jenni Wallin
- Yuri Au Yong
- Kevin Wu
- Chee Hove Teng
The agent configuration consists of the following tabs:
- Connection
- Source
- Advanced
- Security
Note!
You can configure part of the parameters in the Filename Sequence or Sort Order service tabs. For further information, see Workflow Template (3.3).
Connection Tab
The Connection tab contains configuration settings related to the remote host and authentication.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
Host | Enter the primary host name or IP-address of the remote host to be connected. If a connection cannot be established to this host, the Additional Hosts, specified in the Advanced tab, are tried. |
| Enable Bind Address | Select this checkbox to explicitly bind a specific virtual network IP as the source of the SFTP agent’s connection. |
| Bind Address | This mandatory field is enabled only when the Enable Bind Address checkbox is selected. |
File System Type | Enter the type of file system on the remote host. This information is used for naming the remote files.
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Authenticate With | Choose between authentication using a password or a private key. |
Username | Enter the username for an account on the remote host, enabling the SFTP session to login. |
Password | Enter the password for the specified Username. This option only applies if you have selected password authentication. |
Private Key | Click to display a window where you enter the private key. If the private key is protected by a passphrase, you must also enter the passphrase in Key Password. This option only applies if you have selected private key authentication. |
Enable Collection Retries | Select this check box to enable repeated attempts to connect and start a file transfer. When you select this option, the agent tries to connect to the host as many times as you enter in the Max Retries field described below. If the connection fails, a new attempt is made after the number of seconds that you enter in the Retry Interval (s) field described below. |
Retry Interval (s) | Enter the time interval in seconds, between retries. If a connection problem occurs, the actual time interval before the first attempt to reconnect is the time that you set in the Timeout field in the Advanced tab plus the time set in the Retry Interval (s) field. For the remaining attempts, the actual time interval is the number seconds entered in this field. |
Max Retries | Enter the maximum number of retries to connect. If more than one connection attempt has been made, the number of used retries is reset as soon as a file transfer is completed successfully. Note! This number does not include the original connection attempt. |
Enable Restart Retries | Select this check box to enable the agent to send a RESTART command if the connection has been broken during a file transfer. The RESTART command contains information about where in the file you want to resume the file transfer. Note! The RESTART Retries settings will not work if you have selected to decompress the files in the Source tab, see the section below, Source Tab. |
Retry Restarts Interval (s) | Enter the time interval, in seconds, for which you want to wait before initiating a restart in this field. This time interval will be applied for all restart retries. If a connection problem occurs, the actual time interval before the first attempt to send a RESTART command will be the time set in the Timeout field in the Advanced tab plus the time set in the Retry Interval (s) field. For the remaining attempts, the actual time interval will be the number seconds entered in this field. |
Max Restarts | Enter the maximum number of restarts per file you want to allow. In case more than one attempt to send the RESTART command has been made, the number of used retries will be reset as soon as a file transfer is completed successfully. |
Source Tab
The tab contains configurations related to the remote host, source directories and source files. The configuration available can be modified by creating and selecting a customised Collection Strategy. The following text describes the configuration options available when no custom strategy has been selected.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
Collection Strategy | If there is more than one collection strategy available in the system a Collection Strategy drop down list is also visible. From the drop down list you can choose between the Default Collection Strategy and Duplicate Filter. Your selection determines the settings to be configured on the tab. |
Directory | Enter the absolute pathname of the source directory on the remote host, where the source files reside. You can also enter the pathname relative to the home directory of the Username account. |
| Include Subfolders | Select this check box if you have subfolders in the source directory from which you want files to be collected. Note! Subfolders that are in the form of a link are not supported. If you select Enable Sort Order in the Sort Order tab, the sort order selected will also apply to subfolders. |
Filename | Enter the name of the source files on the remote host. Regular expressions according to Java syntax applies. For further information, see http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/regex/Pattern.html. Example To match all filenames beginning with |
Compression | Select the compression type of the source files. This setting determines whether the agent will decompress the files before passing them on in the workflow or not.
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When you select Default Collection Strategy in Collection Strategy,
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
Move to Temporary Directory | If you select this option, the source files are moved to the automatically created subdirectory |
Append Suffix to Filename | Enter the suffix that you want added to the file name prior to collecting it. Important! Before you execute your workflow, make sure that none of the file names in the collection directory include this suffix. |
Inactive Source Warning (h) | IIf the value that you enter is greater than zero, and if no file has been collected during the specified number of hours, the following message is logged: The source has been idle for more than <n> hours, the last inserted file is <file>. |
Move to | If you select this option, the source files are moved from the source directory (or from the directory If Prefix or Suffix are set, the file will be renamed as well. Note! If a file with the same filename already exists in the target directory, the file will be overwritten only if the contents of the file are the same. If the contents are not the same, the workflow will abort for SFTP Batch agent and log an error for SFTP batch-based real-time agent. |
Destination | Enter the absolute pathname of the directory on the remote host into which the source files will be moved after the collection. This field is only available if Move to is enabled. Note! The Directory has to be located in the same file system as the collected files at the remote host. Also, absolute pathnames must be defined. Relative pathnames cannot be used. |
Prefix and Suffix | Enter the prefix and/or suffix that will be appended to the source files after the collection. These fields are only available if Move to or Rename is enabled. |
| Search and Replace | To apply Search and Replace, select either Move to or Rename.
Search and Replace operate on your entries in a way that is similar to the Unix sed utility. The identified filenames are modified and forwarded to the following agent in the workflow. This functionality also allows you to perform advanced filename modifications:
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Keep (days) | Enter the number of days to keep moved or renamed source files on the remote host after the collection. To delete the source files, the workflow has to be executed again (scheduled or manually), after the configured number of days. Note! A date tag is added to the filename, determining when the file may be removed. This field is only available if Move to or Rename is selected. |
Rename | If this option is selected, the source files are renamed after the collection, remaining (or moved back from the directory Note! You must avoid creating new file names still matching the criteria for what files to be collected by the agent, or else the files will be collected over and over again. Note! If a file with the modified name already exists, this file will be overwritten only if the contents of the file are the same. If the contents are not the same, the workflow will abort for SFTP Batch agent and log an error for SFTP batch-based real-time agent. |
Remove | If this option is selected, the source files are removed from the source directory (or from the directory |
Ignore | If this option is selected, the source files remain in the source directory after the collection. This option is not available if Move Before Collecting is enabled. |
When you select Duplicate Filter in Collection Strategy,
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Duplicate Criteria - Filename | Select this option to have only the filename compared for the duplicate check. If the filename is in the list of files which have already been collected once, the file is ignored by the agent. |
| Duplicate Criteria - Filename and Timestamp | Select this option to have both the filename and the time stamp of the last modification, compared when checking for duplicates. Note! If the number of files to be collected is greater than the file list size, files older than the oldest file in the list are not collected. |
Advanced Tab
The Advanced tab contains configurations related to more specific use of the SFTP Advanced service.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Max Async Request | Advance setting to tune the maximum asynchronous request a SFTP server can be handle, leave it empty, will use the default value(100) from library. |
Port | Enter the port number that the SFTP service is to use on the remote host. |
Timeout (s) | Enter the maximum time, in seconds, to wait for response from the server. 0 (zero) means to wait forever. |
Accept New Host Keys | If you select this check box, the agent overwrites the existing host key when the host is represented with a new key. The check box is empty by default so that the default behavior is to abort when the key does not match. Note! Selecting this option causes a security risk since the agent will accept new keys regardless if they might belong to another machine. |
Enable Key Re-Exchange | Use this check box to enable and disable automatic re-exchange of session keys during ongoing connections. This can be useful if you have long lived sessions as you may experience connection problems for some servers if one side initiates a key re-exchange during the session. |
Additional Hosts | You can add additional host names or IP-addresses that may be used to establish a connection. These hosts are tried, in sequence from top to bottom, if the agent fails to connect to the remote host set on the Connection tab. Use the buttons , , , and to configure the host list. |
Security Tab
The Security tab contains configurations related to the advanced security options for SFTP. You can modify the configuration available by selecting the Advanced Security Option check box. If the Advanced Security Option is not enabled, the cipher mode defaults to aes128-ctr and the HMac type defaults to hmac-sha2-256. If the Advanced Security Option is selected but the fields are left empty, the Cipher Mode defaults to aes128-ctr and the HMac Type defaults to hmac-sha2-256
Note!
has upgraded its Maverick library to version 1.7.30, this has resulted in a change in the default handling for SFTP advanced security. Users should take note of the behaviour change for the Advanced Security Option for the SFTP agents. The Advanced Security Option will be disabled by default. Users will have to enable it on their own accord from the Security Tab in the SFTP agents configuration.
With Advanced Security Option disabled, Maverick will manage the connection between the SFTP agent and the server. Maverick will attempt to connect with the STRONG security level. Failing to do so, it will auto downgrade the security level to WEAK and attempt to connect, this behaviour will allow our agents to work well with backwards compatibility for servers with older instances of the Maverick library. Furthermore, having STRONG security level will result in a performance degradation for .
However, when a user manually enables the Advanced Security Option from the security tab, Maverick will instead assign the WEAK security level, which will not be as strict or resource intensive as the STRONG security level.
For more information about security levels, you can refer to this page: https://www.jadaptive.com/managed-security-in-our-java-ssh-apis/
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Cipher Mode | Select the required algorithm for the cipher mode. The list includes the block cipher modes supported by the SFTP agent. Your selection allows the agent to determine which algorithm for the block cipher is to be used when communicating with the servers.
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HMac Type | Select the methods of encryption for key exchange. Your selection allows the agent to determine the method of encryption to be used when the keys are exchanged between the servers and the SFTP agent. SHA-1 All Sha-1 encryption (such as hmac-sha1, hmac-sha1-96 and etc) are considered weak in terms of security and it may be deprecated in the future. We do not recommend you use this encryption type but we advise caution if you choose to use it.
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