Listening Producer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

This section contains additional information for implementing Listening Producer, including common scenarios you can encounter when using this feature.

How does the Polling Interval value in the Trading Partner Services API interact with the schedule for the FileGatewayListeningProducer business process?

Answer - The FileGatwayListeningProducer business process is kicked off at the interval you configure the scheduler to run (default is every 5 minutes). This business process then checks the trading partner database for individual Listening Producer trading partners, each of which has a "polling interval" set. If the business process a trading partner that needs to be polled, it kicks off the protocol specific business process (FileGatwayListeningProducerFTP, FileGatwayListeningProducerSFTP, or FileGatwayListeningProducerCD, that connects to the remote server and pulls files.

Can I implement different schedules for different trading partners?

The business process schedule is for setting how often you want the system to walk the database of trading partner records to check polling intervals. Setting a different polling interval for each trading partner record allows you to control how often a particular trading partner's server is contacted.

What is the retry policy and how do I set it?

If the system cannot connect to a trading partner’s server, it uses the retry policy that is set in each protocol client adapter. This retry policy is configured when you create or update the Trading Partner record, the same way it is set for listening consumer. You can set information such as the number of retries and the retry interval. While the system retries the connection, the database entry is locked so that the scheduler cannot kick off another business process. This lock is released when the retry limit is reached.

What happens on failure?

Failure occurs only if the system cannot connect to a trading partner’s server. If the system cannot connect and the retry policy is exhausted, the client adapter creates a log message. If the system cannot find a file, it is not considered an error. It simply tries again after the next polling interval.

How does Sterling File Gateway track process history?

Process history can be viewed in the business process record. The FileGatwayListeningProducer business process lists all of the protocol-specific business process IDs that were started for the Listening Producer trading partners that were pulled.

What happens if a transfer is still in progress when the next scheduled run begins?

While a Listening Producer trading partner is transferring files it is "locked." The FileGatwayListeningProducer business process will not start a protocol-specific business process for a locked trading partner. Once the transfer is complete, the trading partner database record is unlocked. The next time the FileGatwayListeningProducer business process runs it starts a new instance of the protocol-specific business process.