FTP Polling

The FTP Polling service is used to check the arrival or modification of a file(s) on a FTP location.

Steps to create a FTP polling:

1. Click Configure > POLLING > FTP.

2. Click Create FTP Polling.
   
   
   
   

3. On the Create FTP Polling window, enter the name and description of the new FTP Polling service in the Name and Description fields.
4. Enter the Host name and Port on which FTP Server is running.
5. Enter the username and password required to access FTP Server in the User ID and Password fields.
6. Re-enter the password in the textbox Confirm Password.
7. Select the transfer type as either Active or Passive from the drop-down list of Transfer Type. 
   1. ACTIVE transfer is more secure since the client only initiates communication to the Server on one port.
   2. PASSIVE transfer the client initiates communication to the Server over two ports. Passive mode is useful when you are behind a firewall or a proxy.

8. Select the trigger from the Trigger Type drop-down list. 

   On FileModified	To configure the FTP Polling service to check for any modification in the file(s).
   On FileExists	To configure the FTP Polling service to check for the existence of the file(s).
   On FileCreated	To configure the FTP Polling service to check for the creation of a new file(s).
   Trigger Name	Description

9. The next step is to decide if you want to use SFTP, or FTPS. If you do not use any of these two protocols, the default FTP protocol is used, and you need to skip to step 17 and complete all the steps that follow.

   In case you opt to use SFTP or FTPS protocol, follow the steps below.

10. Choose either of the two protocols – SFTP, or FTPS
    If you want to use SFTP protocol, 

    1. Select SFTP checkbox. 
    2. Convert the format of the key that you want to use to OpenSSH key format by using any key conversion tool. Once converted, import the key to Key Manager. Refer to this page to know how to import a key to the Key Manager.
    3. In the Key Manager field, select the key from the list.
    4. Skip to the step 11 and complete all the steps that follow.
    If you want to use FTPS protocol, 
    1. Select FTPS checkbox.

    2. Select FTPS mode from the FTPS Mode drop-down list. The available options are Explicit and Implicit.  Select FTPS mode with respect to FTP Server you are accessing.

       In Explicit mode (also known as FTPES), an FTPS client must "explicitly request" security from an FTPS server and then step-up to a mutually agreed encryption method. If a client does not request security, FTPS server can either allow the client to continue in insecure mode or refuse/limit the connection.

       In Implicit mode, negotiation is not allowed with implicit FTPS configuration. A client is immediately expected to challenge FTPS server with a TLS/SSL message. If such a message is not received by the FTPS server, the server should drop the connection.

       By default, it should be Explicit as in this mode client request security from FTPS server.

    3. In theProtection Level field, select the protection level. 

       Protection Level is a single Telnet character code specifying the data channel protection level. This command indicates server what type of data channel protection the client and server will be using. The default protection level is None. The available options are:

       • None
       • Clear: This protection level indicates that the data channel will carry the raw data of the file transfer with no security applied

       • Private: This protection level indicates data will be confidentially protected

    4. If you want Adeptia Connect to authenticate FTP server and subsequently validate the certificate sent by FTPS server against the certificate imported in Keystore, select Validate Server checkbox. This certificate is required to authenticate the trusted FTP server. 

    5. Select a keystore activity from the Keystore Name drop-down list. This option is applicable only when you have selected the Validate Server checkbox.

       If Validate Server checkbox is not selected, it always accept the certificate sent by FTPS Server. You must select this checkbox, if you are using FTP over SSL. In addition, you need to create a Keystore Activity by importing the certificate which can be used to trust the FTP server.

11. Enter the name of file that FTP Polling service needs to verify in the File Include Criteria field.
12. In the File Exclude Criteria, enter the name of the file that the FTP Polling service does not need to verify.
    
    For example, you have typed *.txt as a value in the File Include Criteria, and you want following two files Gdata.txt and Gdata1.txt file not to be verified by the FTP Polling Service, then Gdata.txt and Gdata1.txt file name need to be entered separated by a comma in the File Exclude Criteria. You can also use regular expressions to specify more than one file in the File Include Criteria and File Exclude Criteria.

13. Enter the path of file in the File Base Location. Example c:/Gmdata.

    You can also use regular expression for folders in File Include Criteria and File Exclude Criteria fields. For example, if you enter h*/*.txt in File Include Criteria field and C:/Gmdata in File Base Location field, it will search for all .txt file inside all directories which starts from h under C:\Gmdata.

14. Enter the time interval, the FTP Polling Service will check for the arrival of any file or modification of existing file in the Polling Frequency field. Enter digit in the Frequency field and select the unit of time i.e. seconds, minutes or hours etc. from the dropdown list Duration.

    We recommended minimum Polling Frequency to be more than 60 seconds.
15. Enter the file stable time in the File Stable Time field. This is applicable only when user selects On FileModified in trigger type. Polling will wait for the above specified time to become a file stable.

16. Enter the expiry time in the Expiry Time field. After expiry time process flow does not poll for the file.

    When a FTP polling service is used in a process flow, it creates a Polling Status activity variable. For more information, refer to Polling Status.

17. Expand the Advanced Properties section. 

    1. Select the Project from Project drop-down list.
    2. The Connector lists the APIs to connect to the FTP Server.
       

       For any new service, by default Apache Camel is selected. 

       The options of the Connector drop-down list changes as per your selection of the protocols to use to establish the FTP connection. 

       FTP	Apache Camel NATIVE
       SFTP	Apache Camel J2SCH (VFS) J2SSH
       FTPS	Apache Camel J2SCH (VFS)
       Protocol	Options

    3. In the Preferred Authentications field, enter your preferred authentication methods. 

       This field is available only when you select SFTP as the protocol and Apache Camel as the connector. The default set of authentication methods for FTP Polling is publickey,keyboard-interactive,password. 

    4. Enter the additional configuration details in the Add On Configurations text box. This field is available only if you have selected Apache Camel connector.

    5. If you want to create a log file of your FTP service then check the Verbose check box.

       You can enable the Verbose check box only if you have selected the Apache Camel option from the Connector field.

       When you select the Verbose check box using Apache Camel option, the log files are generated on the basis of the FTP protocols. For example, if a user runs FTP activity named FTP Source (connecting with FTP protocol only), the verbose log file path for this activity will be ...\logs\ftpLogs\ftpcomponent.log. If the user runs this activity more than once, all the generated logs will be appended to this ftpcomponent.log file.

       Log file will be generated on the basis of FTP protocols (FTP/FTPS/SFTP) at the different location as explained below:

       • For FTP protocol:  ...<ConnectServerInstallFolder>\AdeptiaServer\ServerKernel\logs\ftpLogs\ftpcomponent.log
       • For FTPS protocol:  …<ConnectServerInstallFolder>\AdeptiaServer\ServerKernel\logs\ftpLogs\ftpscomponent.log
       • For SFTP protocol:  …<ConnectServerInstallFolder>\AdeptiaServer\ServerKernel\logs\ftpLogs\sftpcomponent.log
18. Click Save.