Create the initial configuration for the Redistributable Managed File Transfer Agent

We can configure a Managed File Transfer Agent to connect to an existing IBM MQ configuration.


Before starting

Make sure that you download and extract the contents of the Redistributable Managed File Transfer Agent package. For more information, see Configure the Redistributable Managed File Transfer Agent.


You first create the environment that the Redistributable Managed File Transfer Agent needs. We can then set up the connectivity with the queue manager that is running on the IBM MQ server, then configure an agent and the agent queue manager, before starting and verifying the agent.


Procedure

  1. Create the environment for the Redistributable Managed File Transfer Agent.

    When you run the fteCreateEnvironment command, the MFT data directory with the configuration information for MFT Agents is created. Ensure that we are in the bin directory that was created when you extracted the downloaded MFT Agent redistributable component. Run the following command:

    • fteCreateEnvironment.cmd -d datapath location
    • . ./fteCreateEnvironment -d datapath location
      This command takes the following optional parameters:

        -d
        This parameter specifies the location for data path where the MFT configuration is created, stored, and maintained. If you run the fteCreateEnvironment without specifying the data location, the directory mftdata is created in the location where the Redistributable Managed File Transfer Agent is extracted.Note: If the redistributable agent is going to run as a Windows service, then the BFG_DATA environment variable needs to be set in the system environment for the service to work.

        -n installation name
        This parameter is used for specifying the name of an IBM MQ installation, or a unique name.
        Examples of situations in which you might want to use this parameter are:

        • To quickly test a new function or feature using the redistributable package with the existing configuration where agents have been configured to connect to queue manager in clients mode only. (Note that this parameter does not apply to any agent that is configured connect to a queue manager in bindings mode.)
        • If we are migrating from a standard Managed File Transfer installation to a Redistributable Managed File Transfer Agent package, and we want to use the same configuration as the one that was created by the standard installation. This is the case where standard Managed File Transfer has been installed but is connecting to an agent queue manager running on another machine.

        The default installation name variable is BFG_INSTALLATION_NAME.

      For more information about the fteCreateEnvironment command, see fteCreateEnvironment (set up environment for Redistributable Managed File Transfer Agent).

    We can also set the environment variable BFG_DATA with the data path location:

    BFG_DATA=Datapath location
    Before creating, starting, and stopping an agent, or any other commands, we must ensure that the BFG_DATA variable is set to the correct data path location.
  2. Set up the IBM MQ connectivity.
    1. Set up the coordination queue manager by using the fteSetupCoordination command. The fteSetupCoordination command creates the set that is up required for coordination queue managers and the directories that are needed for further configuration. Redistributable Managed File Transfer Agent works in client mode so we must provide extra parameters with this command to avoid an error, as bindings mode is not supported. 
      fteSetupCoordination -coordinationQMgr PRMFTDEMO2 
              -coordinationQMgrHost 9.121.59.233 -coordinationQMgrPort 3002 
              -coordinationQMgrChannel SYSTEM.DEF.SVRCONN
      For more details and steps for using the fteSetupCoordination command, see fteSetupCoordination. For information on how to configure the coordination queue manager, see Configure the coordination queue manager for MFT.
    2. Create and set up the command queue manager: 
      fteSetupCommands -p PRMFTDEMO2 -connectionQMgrHost 9.121.59.233 
              -connectionQMgrPort 3002 -connectionQMgrChannel SYSTEM.DEF.SVRCONN 
              -connectionQMgr PRMFTDEMO2 -f
      For more details and steps for using the fteSetupCommands command, see fteSetupCommands: create the MFT command.properties file.

  3. Create MFT Agent definition for an end point. 
    fteCreateAgent -p PRMFTDEMO2 -agentQMgrHost 9.121.59.233  
            -agentQMgrPort 3002 -agentQMgrChannel SYSTEM.DEF.SVRCONN 
            -agentName AGENT.TRI.BANK -agentQMgr PRMFTDEMO2 -f
    For more information on using the fteCreateAgent command to configure an agent and the agent queue manager, see fteCreateAgent. In steps 2 and 3 for each agent, you create queue and topic definitions on the agent queue manager.
  4. Start the agent and we are ready to transfer files. 
    fteStartAgent -p PRMFTDEMO2 AGENT.TRI.BANK
    We can verify the status of the agent by running the following command:
    fteListAgents
    For more details on using the fteListAgents command, see fteListAgents.

Parent topic: Configure the Redistributable Managed File Transfer Agent


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