IT04004: WMQ MFT 7.5 PARALLEL TRANSFER REQUESTS FAIL, ERROR BFGIO0110E, PROTOCOL BRIDGE AGENT MULTIPLE FTP SERVERS DIFFERENT LIST FORMAT

Fix Pack 8.0.0.2 for WebSphere MQ V8.0

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• A WebSphere MQ Managed File Transfer (MFT) protocol bridge agent
  is created and
  used with multiple FTP and/or FTPS file servers.
  
  The file servers in use have a different "List Format".
  
  For example:
   - FTP Server 1: unix
   - FTP Server 2: windows
  
  When multiple concurrent transfer requests are submitted to this
  WebSphere MQ MFT protocol
  bridge agent that use a mixture of the different FTP servers,
  then some of the requests can fail with
  the error BFGIO0110E.
  

Local fix

• To use a protocol bridge agent with multiple FTP servers, make
  sure all the them have the same "List Format".
  

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  USERS AFFECTED:
  This issue affects users of:
  
  - The WebSphere MQ V7.5 Managed File Transfer component
  - The WebSphere MQ V8.0 Managed File Transfer component
  
  who have configured a Protocol Bridge Agent to use a
  ProtocolBridgeProperties.xml file that contains entries for two
  or more FTP or FTPS servers, where:
  
  - The entry for at least one FTP or FTPS Server has the
  listFormat attribute set to "unix"
  - The entry for at least one FTP or FTPS Server has the
  listFormat attribute set to "windows"
  
  
  Platforms affected:
  MultiPlatform
  
  ****************************************************************
  PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:
  The Protocol Bridge Agent makes use of internal utility classes
  whenever it needs to create a connection to an FTP or FTPS
  Server. For every Protocol Bridge Agent, there is one instance
  of a utility class that handles connections to FTP Servers, and
  another instance of a utility class that is used whenever
  connections are made to FTPS Servers.
  
  When a connection needs to be created, the Protocol Bridge Agent
  used to perform the following steps:
  
  1) Update the utility class with details of the properties of
  the FTP or FTPS Server it wants to connect to. These properties
  were read from the Protocol Bridge Agent's
  ProtocolBridgeProperties.xml file and included:
  
  - The connection timeout to use when connecting to the Server.
  - The maximum number of sessions that can be created to the
  Server.
  - The format of the data returned by the Server in response to
  LIST commands.
  
  The hostname and port for the Server are part of these
  properties, but are stored by the utility class.
  2) Start a new internal thread.
  3) The internal thread then used the open source Apache Commons
  Net library to establish a session with the FTP or FTPS Server.
  When the session was created, the Apache Commons Net library
  registered a parser with the session which would be used to
  process any responses sent back by the Server. The properties of
  the parser were determined by the properties of the Server that
  were stored in the utility class.
  
  
  If the ProtocolBridgeProperties.xml properties file being used
  by a Protocol Bridge Agent contained entries for multiple FTP or
  FTPS Servers, and the entries for the Servers in the properties
  file contained:
  
  - At least one entry for an FTP or FTPS Server that had the
  listFormat attribute set to "unix".
  - At least one entry for an FTP or FTPS Server that had the
  listFormat attribute set to "windows"
  
  then the following sequence of events could occur:
  
  1) The Protocol Bridge Agent received a request to act as the
  Source Agent for a transfer involving FTP Server 1, where FTP
  Server 1 had the listFormat attribute set to "unix".
  2) The Protocol Bridge Agent loaded up the utility class with
  the properties of this FTP Server.
  3) The Protocol Bridge Agent then contacted a Destination Agent
  to check if the transfer could be performed.
  
  4) While waiting for the Destination Agent to respond, the
  Protocol Bridge Agent received a request to act as a Destination
  Agent for a transfer involving FTP Server 2. The entry for FTP
  Server 2 in the ProtocolBridgeProperties.xml file used by the
  Agent had the listFormat attribute set to "windows".
  5) The Protocol Bridge Agent stored the properties of this FTP
  Server (including the attribute "listFormat=windows") in the
  utility class.
  
  6) The Procotol Bridge Agent then received a response from the
  Destination Agent, indicating that the transfer could proceed.
  7) The Protocol Bridge Agent started a new internal thread. The
  thread used the Apache Commons Net library to open a session
  with FTP Server 1 and register a parser with the session using
  the properties stored in the utility class. However, these
  properties were the properties for FTP Server 2 and so the
  parser was set up to expect responses to a LIST command to be in
  a windows format.
  8) After opening a session with FTP Server 1, the internal
  thread used the Apache Commons Net library to issue an FTP LIST
  command to check if the source file existed on FTP Server 1.
  9) FTP Server 1 responded to the LIST command using a unix
  format.
  10) The Apache Commons Net library tried to parse the response
  using a "windows" parser, as the "listFormat" attribute in the
  utility class had the value "windows" when the Protocol Bridge
  Agent connected to FTP Server 1.
  11) As the Apache Commons Net library was unable to parse the
  response from FTP Server 1, it passed back information to the
  internal thread indicating that the source file could not be
  found on the FTP Server.
  
  This caused the transfer to fail with the error "BFGIO0110E File
  "" does not exist."
  

Problem conclusion

• The Protocol Bridge Agent has been updated so that the internal
  utility class now maintains a data structure which contains
  entries for all of the FTP and FTPS Servers that have been
  defined in the Protocol Bridge Agent's
  ProtocolBridgeProperties.xml file. Each entry contains:
  
  - The name of the FTP or FTPS Server.
  - The properties associated with that Server, as specified in
  the ProtocolBridgeProperties.xml file.
  
  When the Protocol Bridge Agent needs to establish a session with
  an FTP or FTPS Server, it will:
  
  - Look up the entry for that Server in the data structure
  maintained by the utility class.
  - Get the properties of that Server.
  - Use the Apache Commons Net library to open a session with the
  Server, and register a parser with the session using the
  properties that have just been read out of the data structure.
  
  This ensures that the parser which is registered has the correct
  "listFormat" for the FTP or FTPS Server that the Protocol Bridge
  Agent is connecting to, and means that the Apache Commons Net
  library is able to correctly process the responses to any LIST
  commands that the Server sends back.
  
  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  The fix is targeted for delivery in the following PTFs:
  
  Version    Maintenance Level
  v7.5       7.5.0.5
  v8.0       8.0.0.2
  
  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 FTE

• Fixed component ID

  5724H7242

Applicable component levels

• R750 PSY

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