First file transfer with Transfer CFT

Use the following procedures in sequence to configure two Transfer CFTs in Central Governance for a file transfer. The procedures are intended to help new users get started using Central Governance as the managing agent of multiple Transfer CFTs.

The procedures describe simple transfers, with and without security, and mostly using default settings in Central Governance for flows. There are steps for sending a file from one Transfer CFT to another and monitoring the transfer in Central Governance.

For more help see Getting started for a workflow for using Central Governance to manage registered products.

Prerequisites

• Central Governance is installed and running.
• At least two supported versions of Transfer CFT are installed and have registered successfully with Central Governance. For details, see Transfer CFT registration or Transfer CFT user documentation.
• Other than installing and registering, you do not have to perform any configuration tasks on the Transfer CFTs.
• You are logged on to the Central Governance user interface with a user with permissions to check product status and configure applications and flows. Minimally, the user is assigned to the default Middleware Manager role or a user-defined role with similar permissions.
• The Transfer CFTs to use in the transfers are started. To verify, select Products on the top toolbar in the Central Governance UI and check the status of the Transfer CFTs on the Product List page.
• You have access to CFTUTIL commands on the participating Transfer CFTs.

Identify products

You need the names (for the SEND and RECV commands) and the hostnames (to create the applications). Click Products on the top toolbar to open the Product List page. Copy or write the host names of the two Transfer CFTs you want to exchange files.

Add applications

An application must be associated with a registered product for the product to be used as a source or target in a flow. In these steps, you add two applications. Each is associated with one Transfer CFT.

1. Click Applications on the top toolbar to open the Application List page.
2. Click Add application.
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3. Type a unique name for the application.
4. Paste or type the host name for the sending or receiving Transfer CFT.
5. Click anywhere on the page. Because the host name is for a registered Transfer CFT, Central Governance populates the Products field with the Transfer CFT name.
6. You can ignore the other fields.
7. Click Save application.
8. Repeat the steps to add an application associated with the second Transfer CFT.

For more information on what applications are and how they are managed in Central Governance, please see the Applicationssection of this documentation.

Add a flow

Do the following to add a flow that contains the source and target applications. In this flow, the source connects to the target and transfers files to it.

1. Click Flows on the top toolbar to open the Flow List page.
2. Click Add flow.
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3. Type a friendly name for the flow. For example, the daily sales data for stores in the western region might be named West Daily Sales.
4. You can ignore the details and contact fields.
4. Click Source to select the flow source. With the source type set to Applications and the product type set to Transfer CFT, click Add source. Select the application you want as the sender of files and click Select as source.
5. Click Target to select the flow target. With the target type set to Applications and the product type set to Transfer CFT, click Add target. Select the application you want as the receiver of files and click Select as target.
6. Ignore the source and target sections for transfer properties, files properties and processing scripts. This flow uses the default settings for those.
7. Click Protocol between the source and target. Use PeSIT as the exchange protocol and Sender pushes file as the direction.
8. Type the flow identifier, an IDF in Transfer CFT. When the flow is deployed, this value is deployed to the participating Transfer CFTs. The flow identifier for the daily sales data from the western region might be named WR01.
9. Use the default settings for network protocol, SSL/TLS, acknowledgment and PeSIT properties.
8. Click Save.

Deploy the flow

To deploy the flow on the source and target Transfer CFTs, on the Flow List page select the flow and click Deploy.

To verify the deployment, select Administration > Deployments and click Flows on the left side of the Deployment List page.

Add a test file

Set up a file to use in a transfer. For example, you can use a text file named test.txt that contains any text. Put the file in a directory the sending Transfer CFT can access. For example, on Windows the directory can be C:\test.

Send a file

Do the following to transfer the test file from Transfer CFT in the sending application to Transfer CFT in the receiving application.

Access the CFTUTIL commands on the participating Transfer CFT and execute a command in the following format:

CFTUTIL SEND IDF=<flow identifier>, PART=<name of the receiving Transfer CFT>, FNAME=<path and file name of the file to send>

Monitor the transfer

Select Flows > Flows Report on the top toolbar to monitor the status of the transfer.

In the Dashboards UI

1. Select Administration > Dashboards to open the Dashboards UI.
2. Click My documents on the Menu.
3. Double-click an item to view status. For example, Middleware Manager.

Change direction of the flow and transfer another file

Do the following to change the direction of the flow and transfer another file. Previously, the sender pushed the file. With this change, the target pulls the file.

Change the direction of the flow

1. Click Flows to open the Flow List page.
2. Click the name of the flow you added earlier to open its details page.
3. Click Edit to change the flow.
4. Click the protocol between the source and target. Set the direction as Receiver pulls file.
5. In the file properties for the source, enter the name of the file on the source Transfer CFT to transfer. For example, on Windows C:\test\test.txt.
6. Click Save and Deploy.

Transfer the file

Access the CFTUTIL commands on the participating Transfer CFT and execute a command in the following format:

CFTUTIL RECV IDF=<flow identifier>, PART=<name of the source Transfer CFT>

Execute a secure file transfer

The previous file transfers were without security. Use this procedure to transfer a file with security.

1. Change the configuration of the two Transfer CFTs to add a PeSIT protocol with security. Do the following for each Transfer CFT.
   1. Click Products on the top toolbar to open the Product List page.
   2. Click the name of a product to open its details page.
   3. Click Configuration on the right side of the page.
   4. Click Edit.
      
   5. In the Protocols section of the page, click Add protocol.
   6. Make sure SSL_DEFAULT is selected in the drop-down list.
   7. Enter 1762 as the port in.
   8. Click Save and Deploy to push the changed configuration to Transfer CFT. When prompted click Deploy configuration to deploy now and restart Transfer CFT.
   9. Repeat these steps for the other Transfer CFT.
2. Add a flow as before in Add a flow using the same applications. However, for the PeSIT protocol select Mutual authentication in the SSL/TLS field. Save and deploy the flow to the Transfer CFTs.
3. See Send a file for the procedure to transfer a file.

You can monitor the file transfer as before.