Oracle EBS R12.1.3 Submit Request Delivery Options Button – FTP

Functionality
This tab allows users to transfer the Concurrent Request output to a remote host either using FTP or SFTP. The user is able to specify the following:

• Server – Where the data is to be transferred.
• Port – Port on which the FTP/SFTP server is listening. Not a required field, will default to the correct port.
• User – User logon on the server in question.
• Pwd – Password for user on the server.
• Remote Dir – Directory on remote server to place concurrent program output.
• Secure – Checkbox to denote SFTP vs FTP.

There is no additional configuration screen or options.

Regarding the name of the transferred file, I have found that the resulting filename is the same as what is generated by the Concurrent Manager. For example:

• When transfering BI Publisher data, the name of the file is <PROGRAM_SHORTNAME>_<REQUEST_ID>.PDF
• When transferring Oracle Report data, the name of the file is o<REQUESTID>.out

I also came across some interesting things regarding status when I accidently fat fingered the ‘User’ field. In most cases when entering incorrect data, the Concurrent Program would complete successfully, with no indication in the Concurrent Program log that there was a problem! For example, if the password is wrong, the request completes normally and the log has the following information:

+------------- 2) DELIVER -------------+
CONC-DELIV-FTP (SERVER=wolfmanr12)
Beginning post-processing of request 5873740 on node WOLFMANR12 at 01-SEP-2010 11:07:37.
Post-processing of request 5873740 completed at 01-SEP-2010 11:07:37.
+--------------------------------------+

Based on this, I quickly tested the other combinations and came up with the following:

Test	FTP	SFTP
Incorrect Server	Request Completes Successfully, No mention in log	Request Completes with Warning, Log acknowledges an error
Incorrect Port	Request Completes Successfully, No mention in log	Request Completes with Warning, Log acknowledges an error
Incorrect Username	Request Completes Successfully, No mention in log	Request Completes Successfully, No mention in log
Incorrect Password	Request Completes Successfully, No mention in log	Request Completes Successfully, No mention in log
Incorrect Directory	Request Completes Successfully, No mention in log	Request Completes Successfully, No mention in lo

In the 2 cases above where SFTP threw an error, the error in the log was:
+------------- 2) DELIVER -------------+
CONC-DELIV-FTP (SERVER=asdfasdf)
Beginning post-processing of request 5873744 on node WOLFMANR12 at 01-SEP-2010 11:13:22.
Post-processing of request 5873744 failed at 01-SEP-2010 11:13:22 with the error message:
One or more post-processing actions failed. Consult the OPP service log for details.
+--------------------------------------+

The OPP log did have the actual exception thrown in these 2 cases.

Pros and Cons

The biggest Pro here is for those companies who have FTP programs out there that are being called to deliver concurrent program data to remote hosts such as banks, logistics companies, retail sites, other vendors, etc… They could potentially remove the need for managing a customization and utilize this new form.

Other than having no way to name the file on the remote machine, the biggest Con here is what I described above regarding status. Basically, you do not want to make a typo. If you do, there is little to no information available to tell you that there was a problem!