File transfer in a Liberty collective

The FileTransfer and FileService MBeans can be used in a Liberty collective to perform file actions on any Liberty server in the collective. This includes both Liberty servers configured as collective controllers and those configured as collective members.

See Liberty profile: Collective architecture for more information on collective controllers and members.

When you establish a remote JMX connection to a collective controller, you can use the RoutingContext MBean to direct your FileTransfer and FileService MBean calls to execute on any Liberty server in the collective. The collective controller takes care of routing the request and creating authorized connections between the collective controller and the target collective member.

By routing file operations to specific collective members, you can perform configuration-file updates and install applications on any Liberty server in the collective.

The FileTransfer MBean additionally can perform operations on a host computer in a collective whether or not there is a collective member on that host. By registering the host computer with the Liberty collective and specifying a RoutingContext that specifies that host, the FileTransfer command can be used to upload or download files to or from that host system. For example, you can upload and expand a Liberty archive to push out Liberty profiles to new hosts.

The FileTransfer MBean uses authorization information stored in the collective controller for either the target host computer or collective member. This information was stored when the host computer or collective member was registered. See Registering host computers with a Liberty collective for more information on setting up this information for the host computer.

File-transfer operations directed at the host computer use the authorization information stored for the host computer. File-transfer operations directed at a collective member use the authorization overridden by the collective member, if any, or use the information stored for the host computer by default. See Overriding Liberty server host information for more information on overriding host information.

The FileService MBean operates on Liberty profiles (not only on host computers) and uses the authorization configurations from the Liberty profiles. It does not use host-computer authorization information.