Building the Management Environment › Define File Transfer Rules

Define File Transfer Rules

The CA NetMaster FTM region uses file transfer rules to raise alerts and perform actions in response to events associated with file transfers. If a transfer matches a rule, the region displays an alert on the alert monitor.

Important! To use file transfer rules for FTS transfers, define the FTS managers for the appropriate CA SOLVE:FTS regions. The managers enable the CA NetMaster FTM region to detect FTS file transfer events. To use file transfer rules for CONNECT:Direct transfers on distributed systems such as UNIX, define the CONNECT:Direct managers. Define CONNECT:Direct for OS/390 resources to enable access to the CONNECT:Direct messages.

To create a set of file transfer rules:

1. Define a file transfer rule set.
2. Add file transfer rules to the rule set.

Define a File Transfer Rule Set

To define a file transfer rule set

1. Enter /FTADMIN.R at the command prompt.

   The File Transfer Ruleset List appears.

2. Press F4 (Add).

   The File Transfer Ruleset panel appears.

3. Complete the following fields:
   • Ruleset Name

     Specifies the name of the file transfer ruleset.

     Limits: 8 characters

   • Description

     Briefly describes the file transfer ruleset.

     Press F3 (File).

     The definition is created in the knowledge base.

Add File Transfer Rules to a Rule Set

During operation, only one rule set is active in a CA NetMaster FTM region. Add all the file transfer rules that are to be used by a region in the same rule set. You can use different rule sets for different regions.

To add a file transfer rule to a rule set

1. Enter /FTADMIN.R at the command prompt.

   The File Transfer Ruleset List appears.

2. Enter R beside the rule set to which you want to add rules.

   The File Transfer Rules panel appears.

   Note: If active rules have the same criteria, the rule with the name that occurs first alphabetically, is applied.

3. Press F4 (Add).

   The File Transfer Rule Filter panel appears.

4. Complete the following fields:
   • Rule Name

     Specifies the name of the rule.

   • Rule Status

     Specifies whether the rule is ACTIVE or INACTIVE. You can use this field to switch the rule on or off.

   • Description

     Specifies a brief description for the rule.

   • Source/Target/XfrID

     Identifies the events that the rule monitors. This value can be case sensitive.

     • CA XCOM Data Transport for z/OS transfer ID
     • Generic data transfer API product ID
     • CONNECT:Direct processes
     • CONNECT:Mailbox IDs or batch IDs
     • FTP transfer ID
     • CA SOLVE:FTS transmission definitions
     • Files (or data set members)

       Note: You can use a mask to allow matching of more than one process, definition, or file. The wildcard characters are percent (%), representing zero or more characters, and underline (_), representing a single character.

   • Type

     Specifies the value that the Source/Target/TransferID field should monitor:

     • ID applies to CA XCOM Data Transport for z/OS transfer IDs, CONNECT:Direct processes, FTP transfers, CA SOLVE:FTS transmission definitions, Generic API, or CONNECT:Mailbox IDs.
     • SOURCE applies to outgoing files or CONNECT:Mailbox batch IDs.
     • TARGET applies to incoming files or CONNECT:Mailbox batch IDs.
   • Transfer Status

     Specifies the file transfer status that the rule should monitor:

     • START monitors start of the transfer.
     • END monitors end of the transfer.
     • FAILURE monitors failure of the transfer.
   • Alert Severity

     The severity of the alert that is raised when the rule is triggered.

   • Alert Autoclear

     Specifies whether to close a generated alert automatically. If you specify YES:

     • START alert is closed by a subsequent FAILURE or END status event for the same transfer. The subsequent alert includes a counter in its description to indicate how many times it has been raised.
     • FAILURE alert is closed by a subsequent FAILURE or END status event for the same transfer. The subsequent alert displays a counter to indicate how many times it has been raised.

       You can specify an alert time out whereby an alert is closed only after the specified period of time.

5. Specify any secondary criteria to further restrict the transfers that the rule should monitor. Use Boolean operators to form your expressions. You can use the question mark (?) in the Field and Opr fields to list the valid values.

   Press F10 (Actions).

   The Alert Automated Actions panel appears.

6. Press F4 (Add).

   The Available Actions panel appears.

7. Select the actions to perform when a file transfer satisfies the rule.

   The actions you can specify include raising a problem record, notifying selected users, issuing a command, and running a process (see the online help).

8. Repeat step 6 until you have specified all the required actions, then press F3 (Exit) to exit the list of specified actions.
9. Press F11 (Alert) to override the default alert definition.

   The Alert Definition for File Transfer Rule panel appears.

10. Complete the Resource Name, Alert Text, Alert Description, and Alert Recommended Action fields. If you want to use the default value of a field, leave the field blank. See the online help for a list of valid variables that can be used to customize alerts.
11. Press F3 (File).

    The definition is saved.

Note: Before the rules can be triggered by file transfer events, you must load the rule set that contains them. If the rule set is loaded when you add a rule, then the rule becomes active immediately.

Load a Rule Set on Demand

To load a rule set

1. Enter /FTADMIN.R at the command prompt.

   The File Transfer Ruleset List appears.

2. Enter L beside the rule set you want to load.

   The rule set is loaded for the session, replacing the rule set previously loaded.

Note: The default rule set defined in the AUTOIDS parameter group is not changed by this load action. If you want to change the default rule set you need to change the parameter group.

Considerations: Case Sensitive Values

The values that you enter for FileName/TransferID and for the node name and user ID secondary criteria are case sensitive.

If you specify a value for transfers associated with a UNIX, Generic API, or Windows system, you must specify it in mixed case and special characters.

Note: The percent sign (%) and the underline (_) are not recognized as characters; file transfer rules and schedules recognize them as wildcard characters for file names and IDs.

If you specify a value for transfers associated with a z/OS system, you must specify it in upper case.

Note: This does not apply to HFS files.

Considerations: Overlapping Rules

If a file transfer event matches more than one rule, only the most restrictive rule is triggered.

For example, an active rule set contains two rules, A and B, that have the same criteria except for file name criterion, which are, respectively, ALSO0.HYPL.CARD(%) and ALSO0.HYPL.CARD(USER01). The results of the rules being matched are as follows:

Considerations: CA XCOM Data Transport for z/OS File Transfers

A CA NetMaster FTM region identifies a CA XCOM Data Transport for z/OS transfer by xcom-transfer-id(request-number). If a transfer does not have an ID, xcom-transfer-id takes on the following values. Similarly, if the user ID of a transfer is not known, the user ID takes on the following values.

Considerations: CONNECT:Direct File Transfers

When you identify CONNECT:Direct file transfers, consider the information in the following sections.

Notes:

• CA NetMaster FTM does not receive an event at the start of a file transfer for CONNECT:Direct for Windows versions supported by CA NetMaster FTM.
• In CONNECT:Direct systems, if you run a job on a remote system and start monitoring after the request, the job file name is not returned with the end event notification.

Identify CONNECT:Direct File Transfers by Data Set Names

With CONNECT:Direct file transfers, a CA NetMaster FTM region cannot monitor the transfer of specific data set members. Do not identify members when you specify the file name or transfer ID criterion.

The region reacts to each transferred member. For example, the region sees the transfer of the data sets, ALSO0.HYPL.CARD(AL1) and ALSO0.HYPL.CARD(AL2), as two separate transfers, although it cannot identify the actual members transferred.

Identify CONNECT:Direct File Transfers by Process Names

A CA NetMaster FTM region identifies a CONNECT:Direct process by process-name(process-number).

Identify CONNECT:Direct processes in the form of a mask. For example, to identify process PR01, specify PR01(%); to identify processes with names that start with PR01, specify PR01%.

Considerations: CONNECT:Mailbox File Transfers

A CA NetMaster FTM region identifies a CONNECT:Mailbox transfer by mailbox-id(batch-number).

Identify CONNECT:Mailbox transfers in the form of a mask. For example, to identify transfer MB01, specify MB01(%); to identify transfers with IDs that start with MB01, specify MB01%.

The region does not receive an event at the start of a host initiated Auto Connect batch transfer.

Considerations: FTP File Transfers

When you identify FTP file transfers, consider the information in the following sections.

Information Available

File transfer rules are triggered by file transfer events. There are some restrictions on the information available to CA NetMaster FTM from FTP events. You need to consider these restrictions when setting up a file transfer rule, as a rule cannot be triggered if the required information is not available.

Information available from FTP events has the following restrictions:

• Only local data set names are provided in the event.
• For transfers using CA TCPaccess CS for z/OS:
  • CA NetMaster FTM does not receive an event at the start of an FTP file transfer.
  • No FTP client events are issued; however, because CA TCPaccess CS for z/OS operates by using a three-party FTP model, FTP server events are issued for all transfers.

Identify FTP File Transfers

For FTP file transfers using CA TCPaccess FTP Server for z/OS, the transfer ID is in the format server-name(transfer-number).

Identify the transfers in the form of a mask. For example, to identify all transfers from the server PR01, specify PR01(%); to identify transfers to and from servers with names that start with PR01, specify PR01%.

For FTP file transfers not using CA TCPaccess FTP Server for z/OS, no transfer ID is available. Only local data set names are available for identifying FTP transfers. However, you can assign a static name to all FTP transfers not using CA TCPaccess FTP Server for z/OS by using the FTPCNTL parameter group.

Status of FTP File Transfers

When you build your FTP file management environment and if you are using CA TCPaccess CS for z/OS, consider the following:

• CA NetMaster FTM cannot distinguish between a successfully completed transfer and a transfer aborted by the client. It reports both as successful.

  Note: This does not apply to IBM Communications Server when you use the FTP post-processing exit FTPOSTPR.

• The START status is not available for FTP file transfers.

The CA NetMaster FTM region determines the success or failure of an FTP file transfer by checking the value of the last FTP reply code, and 226 is one of many codes that the region interprets as successful.

When an FTP file transfer is aborted by the client, the last reply code is 226, indicating that the transfer is successfully aborted, and the region displays the transfer status as successful.

CA TCPaccess FTP Server for z/OS uses a sub-reply code to differentiate between successful and aborted file transfers.

Considerations: FTS File Transfers

When you identify FTS file transfers, consider the information in the following sections.

Identify FTS File Transfers by Transmission Definition Names

If a CA NetMaster FTM region is monitoring multiple CA SOLVE:FTS regions, it is possible that transmission definitions with duplicate names are used. If you want to monitor such a definition, specify additional criteria to identify it uniquely.

Handle Transmission Definitions That Specify DD Names

A CA NetMaster FTM region monitors the file transfers between CA SOLVE:FTS regions, which may or may not be managed by it. The following diagram shows an example where FTS Region 1 is managed and FTS Region 2 is not managed:

If a CA SOLVE:FTS transmission definition specifies a DD name that points to a data set in Region 2 and CA NetMaster FTM is not authorized in Region 2, CA NetMaster FTM will be unable to resolve the data set name and cannot monitor the data set.

To resolve this problem, perform one of the following:

• Define the CA NetMaster FTM BSYS background user in FTS Region 2

  Note: For more information, see the Installation Guide.

• Use data set names in transmission definitions.

Considerations: Staging Data Sets

A CA SOLVE:FTS region can perform a file transfer by using staging data sets. Data from different sources are copied into the source data set for transfer. When the transfer is complete, data are copied out into the different target files. The following diagram shows the staging mode operation:

When staging mode operation is used, CA NetMaster FTM can only monitor the transfer of the staging data sets. It has no visibility of the files that were copied into that data set. For this type of file transfer, ensure that your file name criterion specifies the staging data sets and not the copied files.