During run time, the FTP Get File activity connects to an FTP Server and attempts to get a single file at the specified location. You can configure the FTP Get File activity to return the contents of the file into a variable of the orchestration. In addition, you can configure the FTP Get File activity to return the timestamp of the file returned by the FTP Server into a variable of the orchestration.
Symbolic Links to... | Hard Symbolic Links | Soft Symbolic Links | Notes® |
---|---|---|---|
Files | Not Supported | Not Supported | The FTP Get File activity does not interpret symbolic links to files as files and therefore symbolic links to files are not processed by the FTP Get File activity during run time. |
Directories | Supported | Supported |
Field | Description |
---|---|
File Named | This field is not used for this activity. You specify the name of the output file using the filename input parameter of the Map Input task. |
From Directory | Specifies the directory on the FTP server where
the Integration Appliance places the file generated in this activity.
You can specify a directory using one of the following options:
Note: UNIX: If
you specify a relative directory path when connecting to an FTP Server
on a UNIX machine, verify that
the FTP home directory has been correctly specified in the /etc/password
file for the user account connecting to the FTP Server.
|
Of Type | Specifies how to read in the contents of the
file - either as binary data or encoded text. If the Text option
is selected, set the encoding type using one of the following options:
|
Attention: You must specify the Transfer
as Text (ASCII) option for FTP activities when retrieving
text files and placing text files on an FTP Server for Endpoints that
manipulate text data while transferring data from/to the FTP Endpoint
in ASCII mode. For example, mainframe and DOS FTP Endpoints manipulate
ASCII data when passing data in ASCII mode.
For example, if your
orchestration retrieves ASCII files using the FTP Poll Directory activity
and places ASCII files using the FTP Put File activity to a mainframe
FTP Server, you must specify the options in the following tasks in
Studio:
|
Field | Description |
---|---|
Retry | |
1) Wait ___ second(s) between each retry. | The number of seconds that the Integration Appliance waits before trying to establish a connection to the FTP Server. |
2) Try to connect ___ times before failing. | Specifies the retry count - the maximum number
of times the Integration Appliance attempts to establish a connection
to the FTP Server before issuing an error and stopping the processing
of the current orchestration job. If you deploy an orchestration that contains an FTP Get File activity and the Integration Appliance cannot connect to the specified FTP Server, the Integration Appliance logs the connections errors as warnings in the system and orchestration logs until the retry count value is reached. When the retry count is reached, the Integration Appliance logs an error in the system and orchestration logs and the stops processing the current orchestration job. For example, you set the retry count to 3. The first, second, and third connection errors appear in the system log as warnings. The Integration Appliance logs the fourth connection error as an error and stops processing the current orchestration job. |
If the optional input parameter listed in the following table are not displayed in the To Activity pane of the Map Inputs pane, select Show Optional Parameters option. If the option is not selectable in the toolbar menu, click on a node in the Map Inputs pane to make this option active.
from the toolbar menu or right-click in the To Activity pane and select theYou can optionally override the settings you specified in the Configure and Pick Endpoint task of the Checklist dynamically during run time, using the input parameters defined in the following table.
For example, the directory on the FTP Server where the Integration Appliance gets the file, could be set in the Configure task to the directory called input. During run time, the directory name: inputXML could be passed into the activity using the directory input parameter. The directory name specified dynamically during run time overrides the original setting specified in the Configure pane. In this example, the Integration Appliance attempts to get the file from the inputXML directory.
Input Parameter Name/Node | Description | Overrides the Setting in Task? |
---|---|---|
directory | Specifies the directory on the FTP server where the Integration Appliance places the file generated in this activity. | The directory input parameter overrides the From Directory field of the Configure task. |
encoding | Specifies how the outgoing data is written out
to the file:
|
The encoding input parameter overrides the encoding specified in the Of Type field of the Configure task but if the Binary option is selected in the Of Type field of the Configure task, the encoding specified by the encoding input parameter is ignored. |
connection/timeout | Specifies the connection timeout — the number of seconds before a timeout occurs between the Integration Appliance attempting to establish a connection to the endpoint and the time it takes for the endpoint to respond to the connection request. For the FTP Get File activity, the amount of time the Integration Appliance attempts to establish a connection to the FTP Server before timing out. | The timeout node of the connection input parameter overrides the Connection Timeout -Time out after ___ second(s) when establishing a connection to the Endpoint field of the FTP endpoint. |
connection/host | Specifies the Host Name or IP address for the FTP server. | The host node of the connection input parameter overrides the Host Name field of the FTP endpoint. |
connection/port | Specifies the port number for the specified host name. The standard port for FTP traffic is 21. The default port for SFTP traffic is 22. | The port node of the connection input parameter overrides the Port field of the FTP endpoint. |
connection/username | Specify a user name for the account used to connect to the FTP Server. | The username node of the connection input parameter overrides the User Name field of the FTP endpoint. |
connection/password | Specify a password for the account used to connect to the FTP Server. | The password node of the connection input parameter overrides the Password field of the FTP endpoint. |
Output Parameter Name | Description |
---|---|
data | Contains the contents of the file. |
timestamp | Contains the timestamp for the file returned from the FTP Server, typically the creation date or last modified date of the file. |