IT19833: AMPERSAND (&) IN FILENAME CAUSES MFT AGENT TRANSFER TO FAIL WITHBFGDM0097E ENTITY NAME MUST IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW THE '&'

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• An IBM MQ Managed File Transfer (MFT) queue resource monitor is
  created to invoke message-to-file transfers for messages
  detected on a monitored queue.  No message-to-file transfers are
  initiated and the following error is reported in the agent's
  event log:
  
  [timestamp] [thread_id] MonitorWork   W   BFGDM0113W: Trigger
  failure for <Queue_Resource_Monitor_Name> for reason BFGDM0097E:
  An internal error has occurred. The xpath expression is invalid
  (reason: org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: The entity name must
  immediately follow the '&' in the entity reference.)
  
  This error is observed when the messages on the monitored queue
  are created via MFT file-to-message transfers, where:
  
  a) the name of the files transferred to messages contain the
  string " & " (for example "bonnie & clyde.txt"),
  
  and
  
  b) message properties are set on the first message written
  during the transfer (which can be requested via the the
  fteCreateTransfer -qmp flag, for example).
  

Local fix

• N/A
  

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  USERS AFFECTED:
  This issue affects users of IBM MQ Managed File Transfer V8 and
  V9 who:
  
    a) perform file-to-message transfers,
    b) request that message properties are set on the first
  message written as part of each transfer
    c) transfer files that have names that contain one more of the
  following characters:
  
       - ampersand ('&')
       - left triangular bracket ('<')
       - right triangular bracket ('>')
       - double quote ('"')
       - single quote (''')
  
  Note that although these file-to-message transfers are
  successful, if message-to-file transfers are then subsequently
  performed, via a queue resource monitor, on these message, the
  queue resource monitor fails to trigger and reports the
  "BFGDM0097E: An internal error has occurred." message to the
  agent's event log.
  
  
  Platforms affected:
  MultiPlatform
  
  ****************************************************************
  PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:
  When an IBM Managed File Transfer (MFT) agent performs a
  file-to-message transfer, message properties can be set in the
  <usr> folder of an MQRFH2 header that is included on the first
  message that is written to the destination queue.  See the
  following Knowledge Center page for more details:
  
  https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSFKSJ_9.0.0/com.ibm
  .wmqfte.doc/mq_message_properties.htm
  
  One such property that is set is the WMQFTEFileName property,
  which is the name of the source file for the transfer.
  
  If the name of the file being transferred contained an ampersand
  ('&') character, it would not be escaped by the agent when
  constructing the <usr> folder of the MQRFH2.  As a result, the
  for a file named "bonnie & clyde.txt", the <usr> folder would
  contain an entry like so:
  
    <WMQFTEFileName>bonnie & clyde.txt</WMQFTEFileName>
  
  As such,  when a queue resource monitor polls the queue for
  message-to-file transfers to initiate it was unable to parse the
  MQRFH2 header using an XML parser, leading to the BFGDM0097E
  error message reported in the Problem Description.
  

Problem conclusion

• The IBM MQ Managed File Transfer (MFT) agent code has been
  updated such that property names and values are escaped such
  that reserved XML style characters (including ampersands and
  triangular brackets) are translated into the equivalent
  character references.  For example, ampersand characters are
  converted to the string "&".  Therefore, continuing the example
  from above, the WMQFTEFileName property would be written to the
  <usr> folder in the MQRFH2 header like so:
  
      <WMQFTEFileName>bonnie & clyde.txt</WMQFTEFileName>
  
  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  The fix is targeted for delivery in the following PTFs:
  
  Version    Maintenance Level
  v8.0       8.0.0.7
  v9.0 CD    9.0.3
  v9.0 LTS   9.0.0.2
  
  The latest available FTE maintenance can be obtained from
  'Fix List for WebSphere MQ File Transfer Edition 7.0'
  http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27015313
  
  The latest available MQ maintenance can be obtained from
  'WebSphere MQ Recommended Fixes'
  http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=171&uid=swg27006037
  
  If the maintenance level is not yet available information on
  its planned availability can be found in 'WebSphere MQ
  Planned Maintenance Release Dates'
  http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=171&uid=swg27006309
  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  WMQ MFT V8.0

• Fixed component ID

  5724H7252

Applicable component levels

• R800 PSY

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