Connect:Direct File Agent Operation

You can run Connect:Direct® File Agent from a UNIX or command line, configure it to start automatically as a Microsoft Windows Service at system startup, or configure it to run from a Microsoft Windows shortcut. Use the command line to verify that Connect:Direct File Agent is working correctly or to specify an alternate configuration file. After you run Connect:Direct File Agent from the command line to verify that Connect:Direct File Agent is operating correctly, run it using the method that requires the least user intervention.

When Connect:Direct File Agent runs as a Microsoft Windows service, it is fully automated, requiring little user intervention. On UNIX, you can modify the initialization sequence of the computer to call the cdfa.sh script and run Connect:Direct File Agent whenever you restart the computer. On z/OS, you must run the appropriate job to start the Connect:Direct File Agent configuration interface, or start or shutdown the Connect:Direct File Agent.

Depending on your network and how you use IBM® Connect:Direct, there might be more than one Connect:Direct File Agent running (on different hosts). The first Connect:Direct File Agent that connects to a IBM Connect:Direct server becomes the Connect:Direct File Agent gate keeper. The gate keeper port is used to keep track of locations monitored in case more than one Connect:Direct File Agent are configured to watch a single directory. The gate keeper ensures that only one Connect:Direct File Agent detects a file that appears in a watched directory.