Route determination
To perform day-to-day operations, it is not required that you understand how Sterling File Gateway handles file transfer activities. The following information is provided as background only.
When a producer sends or uploads a file, that file always lands in a producer mailbox. In preset intervals, Sterling File Gateway checks all the producer mailboxes that it monitors and initiates routing on any newly arrived files. Sterling File Gateway uses the producer partner name and producer mailbox to determine all routing channels that match. For each routing channel match, the producer file structure is compared to the outer layer file name (for compressed files, comparisons are also made on inner (one layer down) file names). If there is a mismatch between the file the producer sent and the file that was expected by the template, the file is not routed.
At times, multiple routing channels may seem appropriate for a transfer because the particular producer and producer mailbox may be used more than once in Sterling File Gateway routing channels. All routing channels that match are considered as candidates. The routing channel candidates are then grouped for each file. For each file, the winning routing channel is the candidate with the highest precedence. The precedence is determined based on the format layering and filename pattern in the template.
- Determine routing channel candidates. For example, if Producer Mailbox is /Producer1, identify the routing channels that use /Producer1.
- Match the producer file structure. For example, if the producer file structure is ZIP/Unknown, identify the routing channel candidates that use a template with the ZIP/Unknown producer file structure.
- Determine precedence. Of the routing channel finalists from step 2, find the one with the longest regular expression for producer file name. For example, a regular expression of (\p{Alnum}+[-_]?(\d{4})_{\d{2})_(\d{2})\zip) is longer than a regular expression of (.+).
- Select the winner. In the previous example, the regular expression of (\p{Alnum}+[-_]?(\d{4})_{\d{2})_(\d{2})\zip) is the winner.
- Route to the consumer. As configured in the winning routing channel, according to format specified in the consumer file structure.
After this process, Sterling File Gateway knows the consumer to send the file to and the required file name and layering format for that consumer. It uses this information to transform the file and deliver it to the consumer. It is possible that more than one delivery can be made to a consumer, depending on template configuration. If the template specifies more than one delivery channel, Sterling File Gateway delivers files according to the requirements of each.
At each stage of processing, Sterling File Gateway generates events that provide detail about the arrival of the file, the partners involved in the transfer, including pickup and drop off mailboxes, the template that governs the transfer, and the file format and name transformations. These event details also link to lower level objects – for example, business processes, data flows, and communication sessions – that allow in-depth analysis and troubleshooting if necessary.
Several factors can impact expected Sterling File Gateway operations, including configuration changes, missing configurations resulting from out-of-band partner setup, template design, and discrepancies in expected and received files. With detailed error tracking and customizable notifications, these processing errors can be manually checked, and rerouted after required corrections.