Managed File Transfer Administration

Managed File Transfer Administration Overview

As the IM and Presence Service administrator , you are responsible for managing file storage and disk usage for the Managed File Transfer feature. Use this chapter to monitor the levels of file storage and disk usage and to set counters and alerts to let you know when the levels exceed your defined thresholds.

Managing External File Server and Database Server

When managing external database size, you can combine queries with shell scripting so that files get purged from the database automatically, according to your specifications. To create your queries use file transfer metadata. This includes transfer type, file type, timestamp, absolute path on the file server to the file, and other information.

When choosing how to handle file transfers within IM and group chat, consider that one-to-one IM and group chat are probably transient so transferred files may be deleted promptly. However, keep in mind that:

  • IMs delivered to offline users may trigger a delayed request for a file.

  • Persistent chat transfers may need to be longer lived.


Note

  • Do not purge files that were created during the current UTC hour.

  • After the file server is assigned, you can change the name of the file server configuration, but not the file server itself.

  • If managed file transfer is configured and you change settings, restarting the Cisco XCP Router service restarts the managed file transfer feature.

  • If you change settings without changing them on the file server itself, file transfer stops working and you receive a notification to restart the Cisco XCP Router service.

  • If a database or file server failure occurs, a message is generated that specifies the failure. However, the error response does not distinguish between the database, file server, or some other internal failure. The Real-Time Monitoring Tool also generates an alarm when there is a database or file server failure. This alarm is independent of whether a file transfer is occurring.

Managed File Transfer Administration Prerequisites

Configure the Managed File Transfer feature.

Managed File Transfer Administration Task Flow

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

AFT_LOG Table Example Query and Output

The following procedure provides an example of a query that you can run on the AFT_LOG table and how to use the output to purge unwanted files from the file server.

Step 2

Set Service Parameter Thresholds

Configure the Managed File Transfer service parameters to define the threshold at which an RTMT alarm is generated for the external file server disk space.

Step 3

Configure XCP File Transfer Manager Alarms

Configure alarms for Managed File Transfer to let you know when defined thresholds have been reached.

Step 4

Clean External Database for Managed File Transfer

Optional. Use the External Database Cleanup Utility to configure jobs that monitor the external database and delete expired records. This will ensure that there is always enough disk space for new records.

AFT_LOG Table Example Query and Output

The following procedure provides an example of a query that you can run on the AFT_LOG table and how to use the output to purge unwanted files from the file server.

This query returns records for every uploaded file after the specified date.


Note
For sample SQL commands, see External Database Disk Usage.

Procedure

Step 1

In the External Database, enter the following command:

SELECT file_path

FROM aft_log

WHERE method='Post' AND timestampvalue > '2014-12-18 11:58:39';

The command generates the following output:

/opt/mftFileStore/node_1/files/im/20140811/15/file_name1

/opt/mftFileStore/node_1/files/im/20140811/15/file_name2

/opt/mftFileStore/node_1/files/im/20140811/15/file_name3

/opt/mftFileStore/node_1/files/im/20140811/15/file_name4

...

/opt/mftFileStore/node_1/files/im/20140811/15/file_name99

/opt/mftFileStore/node_1/files/im/20140811/15/file_name100

Step 2

Write a script that uses the rm command and this output to purge the above files from the external file server. For sample SQL queries, see Database Setup for IM and Presence Service on Cisco Unified Communications Manager.

Note

 

Files that have not been purged from the external file server can still be accessed or downloaded even if records relating to those files have been purged from the external database.

What to do next

Set Service Parameter Thresholds

External Database Disk Usage

You must ensure that the disks or tablespaces do not become full, otherwise the managed file transfer feature may stop working. Following are sample SQL commands that you can use to purge records from the external database. For additional queries, see the Database Setup for IM and Presence Service on Cisco Unified Communications Manager.


Note

Files that have not been purged from the external file server can still be accessed or downloaded even if records relating to those files have been purged from the external database.

Action

Sample Command

Remove all records of files that were uploaded.

DELETE

FROM aft_log

WHERE method = 'Post';

Remove records of all files that were downloaded by a specific user.

DELETE

FROM aft_log

WHERE jid LIKE '<userid>@<domain>%' AND method = 'Get';

Remove records of all files that were uploaded after a specific time.

DELETE

FROM aft_log

WHERE method = 'Post' AND timestampvalue > '2014-12-18 11:58:39';

In addition, there are counters and alarms that can help you manage database disk usage. For details, see Alarms and Counters for Managed File Transfer.

Set Service Parameter Thresholds

Configure the Managed File Transfer service parameters to define the threshold at which an RTMT alarm is generated for the external file server disk space.

Procedure

Step 1

In Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration, choose System > Service Parameters.

Step 2

Choose the Cisco XCP File Transfer Manager service for the node.

Step 3

Enter values for the following service parameters.

  • External File Server Available Space Lower Threshold— If the percentage of available space on the external file server partition is at or below this value, the XcpMFTExtFsFreeSpaceWarn alarm is raised. The default value is 10%.
  • External File Server Available Space Upper Threshold— If the percentage of available space on the external file server partition reaches or exceeds this value, the XcpMFTExtFsFreeSpaceWarn alarm is cleared. The default value is 15%.

Note

 

Do not configure the lower threshold value to be greater than the upper threshold value. Otherwise the Cisco XCP File Transfer Manager service will not start after you restart the Cisco XCP Router service.

Step 4

Click Save.

Step 5

Restart the Cisco XCP Router service:

  1. From Cisco Unified IM and Presence Serviceability, choose Tools > Control Center - Network Services.

  2. From the Server drop-down select the IM and Presence publisher and click Go.

  3. Under IM and Presence Services, select Cisco XCP Router, and click Restart.

What to do next

Configure XCP File Transfer Manager Alarms

Configure XCP File Transfer Manager Alarms

Configure alarms for Managed File Transfer to let you know when defined thresholds have been reached.

Procedure

Step 1

Sign in to Cisco Unified IM and Presence Serviceability.

Step 2

Choose Alarm > Configuration.

Step 3

From the Server drop-down, choose the server (node), and click Go.

Step 4

From the Service Group drop-down list, choose IM and Presence Services and click Go.

Step 5

From the Service drop-down list, choose Cisco XCP File Transfer Manager (Active) and click Go.

Step 6

Configure the preferred alarm settings. For help with the fields and tehhir settings, refer to the online help.

Step 7

Click Save.

What to do next

For more information on the available alarms and counters, see Alarms and Counters for Managed File Transfer

Alarms and Counters for Managed File Transfer

With Managed File Transfers, the transferred files get delivered to users only after they are successfully archived to the external file server, and after the file metadata is logged to the external database. If an IM and Presence Service node loses its connection to the external file server or external database, IM and Presence Service does not deliver the file to the recipient.

Alarms for Managed File Transfer

To ensure that you are notified if a connection is lost, verify that the following alarms are properly configured in the Real-Time Monitoring Tool.


Note

Any files that were uploaded before the connection to the external file server was lost and which were in the process of being downloaded to the recipient, fail to be downloaded. However, there is a record of the failed transfer in the external database. To identify these files, the external database fields file_size and bytes_transferred do not match.

Table 1. Alarms for Managed File Transfers

Alarm

Problem

Solution

XcpMFTExtFsMountError

Cisco XCP File Transfer Manager has lost its connection to the external file server.

Check the External File Server Troubleshooter for more information.

Check that the external file server is running correctly.

Check if there is any problem with the network connectivity to the external file server.

XcpMFTExtFsFreeSpaceWarn

Cisco XCP File Transfer Manager has detected that the available disk space on the external file server is low.

Free up space on the external file server by deleting unwanted files from the partition used for file transfer.

XcpMFTDBConnectError

Cisco XCP data access layer was unable to connect to the database.

Check the System Troubleshooter for more information.

Check that the external database is running healthy and if there is any problem with the network connectivity to the external database server.

XcpMFTDBFullError

Cisco XCP File Transfer Manager cannot insert or modify data in the external database because either the disk or tablespace is full.

Check the database and assess if you can free up or recover any disk space.

Consider adding additional database capacity.
Counters for Managed File Transfer

To help you administer managed file transfer, you can monitor the following counters via the Real-Time Monitoring Tool. These counters are saved in the Cisco XCP MFT Counters folder.

Table 2. Counters for Managed File Transfers

Counter

Description

MFTBytesDownloadedLastTimeslice

This counter represents the number of bytes downloaded during the last reporting interval (typically 60 seconds).

MFTBytesUpoadedLastTimeslice

This counter represents the number of bytes uploaded during the last reporting interval (typically 60 seconds).

MFTFilesDownloaded

This counter represents the total number of files downloaded.

MFTFilesDownloadedLastTimeslice

This counter represents the number of files downloaded during the last reporting interval (typically 60 seconds).

MFTFilesUploaded

This counter represents the total number of files uploaded.

MFTFilesUploadedLastTimeslice

This counter represents the number of files uploaded during the last reporting interval (typically 60 seconds).

Clean External Database for Managed File Transfer

Configure jobs that monitor the external database and delete expired records. This will ensure that there is always enough disk space for new records.

To clean database tables for Managed File Transfer, make sure to select the Managed File Transfer (MFT) feature under Feature Tables.

Procedure

Step 1

Log into Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration on the database publisher node.

Step 2

Choose Messaging > External Server Setup > External Database Jobs.

Step 3

Click Clear External DB.

Step 4

Do one of the following:

  • For manual cleanup of an external database that connects to the publisher node, select Same Cup Node.
  • For manual cleanup of an external database that connects to a subscriber node, select Other Cup Node and then select the external database details.
  • If you are configuring the system to monitor and clean the external database automatically, check the Automatic Clean-up radio button.

Note

 

We recommend that you run a manual cleanup prior to setting up the automatic cleanup.

Step 5

Set the Number of Days that you want to go back for file deletion. For example, if you enter 90, the system deletes records that are older than 90 days.

Step 6

Click Update Schema to create the Indexes and stored procedures for the database.

Note

 
You need to update the schema only the first time that you run the job.

Step 7

Set the Number of Days that you want to go back for file deletion. For example, if you enter 90, the system deletes records that are older than 90 days.

Step 8

In the Feature Tables section, select each feature for which you want to clean records:

  • Text Conference (TC)—Select this option to clean database tables for the Persistent Chat feature.
  • Message Archiver (MA)—Select this option to clean database tables for the Message Archiver feature.
  • Managed File Transfer (MFT)—Select this option to clean database tables for the Managed File Transfer feature

Step 9

Click Submit Clean-up Job.

Note

 

If you have the Automatic option enabled, and you want to disable it, click the Disable Automatic Clean-up Job button.