File polling in Remote machine

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1

Hello,

     I am running wM 6.1 with  IS_6-1_FP2,IS_6-1_SP1 updates on       OS -Windows 2003,  OS Platform - x86, version - 5.2

     I need to poll for files in remote machine, but I have problem when enabling port for remote m/c. However, if port details changed to local machine, it works fine.

Port config details for remote m/c:

   Monitoring Directory : \\XXX.XX.X.XX(IP address)\SalesOrder\MonitorDir

Works good in Port config with local machine details:

  Monitoring Directory : D:\SalesOrder\MonitorDir  

     FYI, using (MS-DOS) from same local machine instead of IS, I could ping remote m/c and read/write files to remote folder.

     Also, for testing tried  IP address of same local m/c, but did not work.

Any suggestion/help would be greatly apprecaited.

Thanks,
Siva

2

The file listening port does not support UNC names. To poll a remote directory, the directory must be mounted as a local drive.

3

Rob,

    Could you please provide more explanation, alternatively how I can acheive this.

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

-Siva

4

For a Windows machine, you’ll need to map a drive to the remote machine. This map must be a “system” map so that it is available to services. Your IS service will need to logon as a user that has rights to the network and to that network share. For a Unix machine, simply mount the drive.

Another approach is to use FTP instead of a file share. You’d need to write some services to implement the polling over an FTP connection.

5

For polling a remote directory I would definitely recommend scheduled FTP rather than a file polling port. Among other things, if a network problem were to leave the directory is unavailable at the time of polling, IS may disable the listener. There are a number of other potential problems, especially in Windows, including the tendency for a file to be left open and therefore inaccessible if an unexpected event occurs during processing. My 2 cents,

Tim

6

I agree. Network shares used by IS generally give me the heebie jeebies.

7

Tim,
I very much agree your suggestions. But,for various reasons like scheduled backup, error monitoring for files, my network folder has to located in AS/400 machine. It is maintained by another team, who has ownership. Hence, IS has to poll for files in network folder.

Reamon,
IS NT service runs as user who has admin rights on Windows as well on AS/400. So, it is the same user been used to overcome the conflict.

         I need more idea, as you mentioned in this thread, "the map must be a "SYSTEM" map". Could you please explain in detail, how I can achieve System map.

Thanks,
SIva

8

My guess is the 400 is running an FTP server. Would using an FTP poll be possible? It is a better approach, IMO.

Looks like I was wrong on the UNC usage though. I thought I remembered that file polling did not support UNC names but I cannot find any reference to that. Additionally, this SR on Advantage indicates that UNC names can indeed be used. The user account that the IS service runs under must be a domain account and be a member of the local Administrators group. Haven’t tried it myself though. Give it a try and let us know if that gives IS the access it needs.

P.S. Forgot to mention that the network share on the 400 needs to be addressable using UNC naming. Not sure how that’s done. This discussion forum appears to have some info along these lines.

9

I was able to get the UNC paths to work between two Windows boxes, with both host names and IP addresses. The AS/400 is another animal altogether. I suspect that something like Samba would need to be running on that box to allow the share to work, but that’s out of my realm of expertise.

I can see why there would be reasons for the monitoring directory to stay on the remote machine. I’m not sure why that prevents using FTP. It’s not too difficult to set up. HTH,

Tim

10

Tim,
I would apprecaite, if you can highlight some idea and provide reference, How to set up FTP polling similar to File poll?

        Can I configure FTP port in IS similar to File polling port and include processing flow service? Need some implementation tips.

Thanks in advance for your help.
Siva

11

Rob,
Thanks for the inputs. Tried earlier both of the tips you have referenced.

– webMethods IS NT service is running on user who has local admin privilages and same user had admin rights in AS/400.

— Based of tip 2: using Netwrok Map tool in Windows explorer could able to map AS/400 network drive and as well in cmd “Run” prompt able to access.

However, webMethods could not. Not sure why, and things seems dark to me now.

Thanks,
Siva

12

Siva,

You would write a service that invokes services in the pub.client.ftp folder. Minimally you would need to login, change to your monitoring directory, get or mget the file(s) you need and logout. The Integration Server Built-in Services reference documents all of these services. You would then go to the Scheduler on the IS Admin page and set up a job to run this service at whatever interval you were going to use for the file poller.

Tim

13

“Can I configure FTP port in IS similar to File polling port and include processing flow service? Need some implementation tips.”

Yes configure a FTP port say example:8021 using IS Admin UI/ports.As metioned above regarding scheduled FTP you should create custom flows utilizing WmPublic (pub.client.ftp) folder services and test the functinality,

HTH,
RMG

14

Tim, Rob,
Thanks for the tips. Let me try this way and have as an alternate approach.

      I will keep you posted once I am done.

Thanks,
Siva

15

This is not correct. An FTP port does not poll like a file polling port. You do not need an FTP port to poll an FTP server. An FTP port listens for inbound FTP sessions only and is not used for “outbound” FTP activity.

16

Rob,

I didnt mean configure FTP port will act polling like a file polling port…I agree,it is used for Inbounds only(in case they have inbound transmissions) and for outbound we just need to make use of client.ftp services…

Sorry!! no confusion.

HTH,
RMG