Creating FTP Source Activity

FTP Source activity enables you to define the name and path of the source file located at FTP server, which is to be later transferred to the target location. On execution of the process flow, FTP Source activity enable Adeptia Server to fetch this source file from the specified FTP location.

Prerequisites

If you are using SSL FTP Server then you need to validate it by importing certificates. For information on how to create Keystore and import certificates, refer to Creating Keystore.

Steps to create FTP Source Activity

1. Go to Develop > Services > Source > FTP. 

   

2. Click Create New.
   
   
   
   
3. Type the name and the description for FTP Source in the Name and Description text boxes respectively.
4. Type the host name/IP address and port of the FTP Server in the Host Name and Port text boxes respectively.
5. Type the username in the User ID text box.

6. Type the password, if required, in the Password text box. Then re-enter the password in the Confirm Password text box.

   FTP is built on a client-server architecture and uses separate control and data connections between the client and the server. FTP users may authenticate themselves using a clear-text sign-in protocol, normally in the form of a username and password, but can connect anonymously if the server is configured to allow it. Therefore, you need to enter the username and password to access FTP site.

7. Type the path of source file in the Remote File Path text box. This file path specifies the location of the source directory where the file is located.

   You can specify either absolute path or relative path depending upon the access control specified for you. Access Control is the process of authorizing users, groups, and computers to access objects on the network or computer.

   If you specify '/' in the beginning of the remote FTP file base location path then the provided path is an absolute path, that is, path starting from the root folder. If '/' is not present in the beginning of the remote FTP file base location path then the provided path is a relative path.

8. Type the name of the source file in the File Name text box. 

9. Select the transfer mode from the Transfer Mode drop-down list box. This option is used to specify the mode in which the source file is transferred to/from FTP server. The file can be transferred either in Binary or in ASCII format. 

   In BINARY mode, a source file is transferred bit by bit (raw data without any modification) from one system to another system. Both files (source file and target file) will contain exactly the same sequence of bytes. In this way, the file is transferred in its exact original form.

   However, in ASCII mode, source file is not transferred bit by bit as the transferred data is considered to contain only ASCII formatted text. Therefore, the target file that receives the transferred data is responsible for translating the format of the received data to the format that is compatible with the operating system at the client-end. So a file may use special control characters to format data and may be slightly changed to maintain itself with respect to the EOL (End Of Line) characters.

   Select Binary, if the source file is a binary file to avoid any changes in the file but if the source file has ASCII character(s) then select ASCII to maintain EOL characters.

10. Select the transfer type from the Transfer Type drop-down list box. The available options are:
    
    • Passive

    • Active

    Active FTP is more secure and beneficial for FTP server administrator. However, it is disadvantageous for the client side administrator as when the FTP server attempts to make connections with the random high ports, most of the times it get blocked by a firewall at the client side. 

    Passive FTP is beneficial for the client, but disadvantageous for FTP server administrator. In this case, when the FTP server attempts to make a connection, a successful connection is established with the server. However, one of the connections is established with a random high port, which most of the time gets blocked by a firewall on the server side. Therefore, it is recommended to use Passive as it is beneficial for the client.

11. Select SFTP check box, if the FTP Server specified in the Host Name text box is an FTP Server over SSH. Select the key manager from the Key Manager drop-down list box.
12. Select FTPS check box, if the FTP Server specified in the Host Name text box is an FTP Server over TLS/SSL. Do the following:
     

    1. Select FTPS mode from the FTPS Mode drop-down list box. 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.

    2. Protection Level: It 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

13. Select Validate Server check box, if you want Adeptia Suite to authenticate FTP server and subsequently validate the certificate sent by FTPS server against the certificate imported in Keystore. This certificate is required to authenticate the trusted FTP server. Do the following:

    1. Select a keystore activity from the Keystore Name drop-down list box.

       If Validate Server check box is not selected, it always accept the certificate sent by FTPS Server. You must select this check box, 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.

14. Expand Advanced Properties.
    
    
    
    
15. Select Delete File on Success check box, if you want to delete the FTP source file after successful execution of the process flow. In case, the process flow is aborted due to any reason, the source file will not be deleted.

16. The Connector drop-down lists the APIs to connect to the FTP Server. The options changes as per your selection of the protocols that you want to use to establish FTP connection. 

    Protocol	Options
    FTP	Native Secured Inet Factory
    SFTP	J2SCH (VFS) Secured Inet Factory J2SSH
    FTPS	J2SCH (VFS) Secured Inet Factory

17. Select Verbose check box, if you want to create a log file of your FTP activity. This check box is enabled only if you select Secure Inet Factory from the Connector drop-down list box.

    If you select Verbose check box, the log file is created within <AdeptiaSuiteInstallFolder>\AdeptiaServer\ServerKernel\Logs\Ftplogs folder. Whenever you execute this activity, a separate log file is created with the name <ActivityName_MM-dd-yyyy hh-mm-ss.S> where ActivityName is the name of the FTP Activity for which log file is created.

18. Set the time limit (in seconds) in the Data Timeout text box to end the infinite loop with no output. At times, when Adeptia Suite is connected with FTP server, there could be connectivity issues. This could result in an infinite loop with no output. This issue can be resolved by setting a time limit if no data is transferred between Adeptia and FTP servers. By default, this is set to 60 seconds. This implies that if there is no data transfer for 60 seconds between both the servers, the connection is considered broken and an error message is displayed.
    
    

    For more information on Advanced Properties, refer to Changing Advanced Properties.

19. Click Save.