Software Version - Document Version: v2.12.0-1.0
Used formatting:
Tip | Additional hint |
Note | Remark, further information |
Important | Crucial note, please obey |
Caution | Neglecting may cause malfunction |
Warning | Neglecting may cause severe malfunction or data loss |
1. Introduction
TIXstream MFT provides several options to initiate, control and monitor transfer jobs. E.g. by
External 3rd party systems: (CMS, MAM and archiving systems etc.) via REST API
TIXEL Control Center (TCC): TIXEL’s Web UI accessible via standard browsers (e.g. Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Safari)
MFT Control (
mftctl): TIXEL’s command-line tool provided and installed with the TIXstream MFT bundleTIXwatch: TIXEL’s optional watch folder module
In the following sections you can find details on how to handle specific transfer tasks using TCC, mftctl and TIXwatch.
Since TIXstream MFT can be tailored to different customer specific workflows, you should synchronize with your administrator to learn which features and modules have been enabled and configured for your environment.
2. Critical File Names
Certain characters for file and folder names may cause issues, especially when exchanging files between Windows, macOS and Linux. Even if many symbols are supported by TIXstream, they can lead to failures in further third party processing.
Please avoid using special characters in file and folder names. The following characters are known to cause unexpected behavior.
! " # $ % & * , / : ; < = > ? [ \ ] |.and-at the beginning or end of a namespaces, especially at the beginning and at the end of a name
3- and 4-byte characters like emoticons
Diacritical symbols like umlauts, especially since these are encoded differently in macOS (NFD/NFC)
There may be several other limitations or reserved names, like CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM1, LPT1 etc. in Microsoft Windows.
While some characters may work in a Windows-only environment, they may fail when transferred to Linux. Thus TIXstream MFT does not actively reject critical names to allow usage wherever possible.
Caution | When choosing names for file and folders, keep in mind your entire processing chain to define a set of valid characters to be used for file exchange. |
3. TIXEL Control Center
Your TIXstream MFT administrator should have provided you with information about which URI and credentials (username/password combination) you can use to access TCC. Enter the URI in the address field of your web browser. Depending on the configuration the system is available via http and/or https, for example at https://mft.sample.com/tixel-control-center/. Login with your credentials.
At the top right the name of the TIXstream MFT node and the ID of the user is displayed. By clicking the user name, a small pop-up menu opens with the following entries:
Change Password: Please ask your admin if the system is configured to let users change their passwords.
About: Display version information
Log out: Log off from TCC
As a standard user (without admin privileges) you should see three tabs:
Dashboard: Monitor transfer jobs
Transfer: Create transfer jobs by selecting source files/directories, optionally add meta data and select destination systems and shares
History: View and search for specific jobs that have been executed in the past
Below the functions of the MFT system are described, which are available to a regular TCC user. These functions are also available to an administrator – here in top level tab "TIXstream".
Multiple users can log in to the TCC of an MFT system at the same time.
As TCC user you can
3.1. Creating a Transfer Job
Click Transfer. In File Selection choose a configured source directory. Select one or more files and add them to the job by clicking the > icon.
In section Metadata you can optionally add metadata. Here a metadata file can be imported or text can be entered.
In section Peer Selection, you can specify the destination including receiver node and share (one of its available file system locations). Click > to add the selected recipients of the job. If recently added systems are not visible, they should be available as receivers after you click Refresh (circular arrow). Unreachable systems are listed as Offline Nodes.
In section Execution a meaningful short description can be entered and the transfer can be created for example using queue option Now for immediate execution.
Caution | If the error message "can not find source node" appears when creating a job, the local transfer system might not be registered at the remote site (the receiver). Ask the administrator of the receiving system to add your system to the list of its transfer system. |
3.2. Monitoring and Managing Transfer Jobs
In the Dashboard tab, status and progress of transfer jobs can be monitored. A job for immediate execution usually appears in the tab In Progress after a few seconds. When the transfer has finished successfully, it can be found in the corresponding Completed tab (if necessary after clicking the Refresh icon).
When a transfer could not be completed because of system or network errors, it usually appears in the Waiting tab, since it is automatically rescheduled for later execution when the root cause of the error has been resolved.
3.3. Dashboard
The dashboard provides an overview of recent incoming and outgoing transfer jobs within a table. Separately, the receive queue, i.e. the list of upcoming transfer jobs to be received, is displayed.
With the tabs located above the transfer list you can select the status of a job that should to be displayed:
All
In Progress
Waiting
Completed
Cancelled
For transfers the following information is displayed in the corresponding columns. Depending on the actual table the respective relevant elements are:
Direction (▼ incoming, ▲ outgoing)
Status (i): current transfer status; mouse over the icon to see status as text
Updated: Time of last status change
Source Node: Sending TIXstream MFT node name
Destination Node: Receiving TIXsream MFT node name
Description: Description for transfer job created by user or third-party system
Transferred Size: Size of the amount of transmitted data transmitted so far
Total Size: Size of entire job to be transmitted
Data Rate: Average data rate of transfer job
ETA[s]: Estimated remaining time in seconds
Progress: Progress in percent
Created: Time of job creation
Destination Path: Target path alias
#Files: Number of files of the job
When you select a transfer by clicking on its table row, depending on the selected transfer list, transfer status, transfer direction and user role, various actions are available in drop-down menu (Actions):
Show: Detailed view with all information about the transfer job
Stop: Pause transfer; later resumption possible
Start: Start immediate execution (if resources are available)
Reschedule: (Re)Set the execution time
Prioritize: Start waiting transfer job immediately (if resources are available)
Cancel: Permanent discontinuation of the transfer job; any existing files or file fragments at the recipient will be deleted
Bad Metadata: Cancel due to invalid metadata
Confirm (only for completed transfers at receiver side): explicit confirmation that the files are processed (confirm)
Reject (only for completed transfers at receiver side): explicit rejection of the received files (reject)
Delete: Delete the job from the transfer database (files are not deleted)
In the receive queue:
Dequeue: Put job back to waiting
Requeue First
Requeue Last
In the search box you can enter text and filter the job list by clicking Refresh (⇄). With the checkboxes outgoing and incoming you can show or hide corresponding jobs.
In tables Completed and Canceled as well well as in the history, you can select multiple transfers and take actions, such as Delete. Clicking on a row selects the corresponding transfer, click again to undo the selection.
Tip | Note that the transfer status may have changed after the last refresh; e.g. a running transfer might have been completed. For this reason it is possible that actions triggered by the GUI cannot be performed (anymore) due to the state change. TCC might show you a corresponding error message. Press the ESC key to remove the message, click Refresh (⇄), check the new state of the transfer job and choose an action which is allowed in the new status. |
3.4. Transfer
A transfer can basically only be created at the sending system. In TCC this is typically done in four steps that can be executed by a click on the corresponding item. A final click on Create (bottom right) creates the transfer job, which is then transmitted to the receiving system. It is started by the receiver depending on the configured execution time and according to available resources at sender and receiver.
3.4.1. File Selection
With Sources select the local storage system of the files to be sent.
If necessary, navigate by clicking the folder
Select the file(s) and click > to add them to the list of files. A click on < removes already added files; << deletes all files from the list.
A click on Refresh (two semi-circular arrows) updates the list of sources and file list.
3.4.2. Meta Data
You can load content-specific metadata, if available, into the MFT system from a local file by clicking Import.
A click on Metadata Editor starts an integrated tool for editing and displaying metadata. In the editor the file list of the previously selected source files is also available to be assigned to specific metadata elements.
If you are done, save metadata and close the pop-up window by clicking on the ✕ top right.
3.4.3. Peer Selection
In Peer Selection you find a list of available transfer systems. Only jobs to currently available (online) systems can be created. In Online Nodes select the target system.
In Shares target paths available on the selected target system are displayed. If it is a relay share (indicated by the corresponding checkbox), you can specify the e-mail address of the recipient to which the files are to be forwarded in Relay Recipient E-Mail.
Clicking > adds the selected destination to the list. Click on < to remove an already added target; << deletes all destinations from the list.
In Notification E-mail you can specify an e-mail address to which a notification is sent upon completion of the job. This requires that the MFT system was set up for sending of e-mails.
Caution | Note that only the receiving MFT system sends notifications. Even if you have created an e-mail address for a job and the local system is set up for sending mail, it may be that no notification will be sent if the responsible target system is not set up accordingly. In this way, however, sending e-mails twice is avoided. |
3.4.4. Execution
In Description you can enter a short note, which is also transmitted to the receiving system for future reference.
With Queue Options select the desired time of execution:
Now: execution as soon as resources are available
Later: create job only, execution by later explicit start
Scheduled: execution at a configured time (input by means of date and time)
Local User Data allows to specify local information not transmitted to the receiver.
With Read While Write Mode , you can activate the corresponding transmission mode which transfers still growing files. Please check with your admin, if that is foreseen in your workflow.
3.5. History
In history view all completed and aborted transfer jobs are displayed. Here you can also filter by date and time (from – to). Tick checkbox Updated to use the time of the last change of the transfer jobs instead of the start time for this range.
In the overview following information is displayed:
Direction (▼ incoming, ▲ outgoing)
Status (i): Current transfer status
Job ID: Internal ID, useful for trouble shooting
Source Node: Sending TIXstream MFT node name
Destination Node: Receiving TIXstream MFT node name
Description: Note created by user or third-party system
Total Size: Size of all files
Data Rate: Average data rate of the transfer job
Progress: Transfer progress in percent
Here, too, actions are available from the pop-up menu for the selected jobs.
You can select multiple jobs and execute actions, such as Delete. Clicking on a row selects the corresponding job, click again to undo the selection. With the key combination Ctrl-A all transfers displayed are selected at once ("select all").
3.6. Detailed View
To inspect several details of a transfer job, select a transfer job from the dashboard or the history and click Show.
Here additional job information are displayed. If the transfer status permits, some data can be modified. To do so, click the pencil icon at the top right. The pencil icon becomes a disk icon and is used to apply (save) any changes.
The job ID is shown at the top.
User Defined Status
Description
Source Node
Destination Node
Destination Path
Relay Recipient E-Mail
Notification E-Mail
The following information is available in the corresponding tabs:
Progress
Status: status code and description
Status Detail: explanatory description, such as "transfer successfully finished"
Progress: transfer progress in percent
ETA [s]: estimated remaining time in seconds (0 in completed transfers)
Average Data Rate
Files: number of transferred files / total number of Files
Bytes: number of bytes transferred / bytes total
File List: table with Filename and Size of all files of the job
Metadata: metadata of jobs with access to the metadata editor
Notifications: history of Notifications of the job with
Created: data and time
ID: internal notification id
Status Code
Status
Status Detail
Details: further Details:
Read While Write Mode (yes/no)
Local User Data
Started
Finished
Transfer Direction (IN/OUT)
Peer Job ID
Created: date and time
Updated
Schedule Mode: immediate (NOW), later (LATER), planned (SCHEDULED)
Scheduled: planned start time (if any)
3.7. Status Codes
A transfer job can take the following states. Details regarding state transitions and other technical information can be found in the API documentation.
| Code | Message | Detail | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
800 | staged | Job created locally, job data not yet complete | |
810 | ready | Job data complete, waiting (unspecified execution time) | |
811 | ready | receiver unavailable | created, the receiver cannot be reached (retrying) |
820 | scheduled | waiting for defined execution time, not in the queue | |
830 | queued | in the queue (waiting for next possible execution) | |
832 | queued | resumed | Job has been stopped temporarily and resumed |
840 | running | running transfer | |
850 | paused | interrupted (transfer was previously started, otherwise "ready") | |
860 | cancelled | interrupted by external intervention | |
861 | cancelled | bad metadata | canceled because of incorrect metadata |
870 | completed | successfully transmitted (completed) | |
871 | completed | confirmed | successfully transmitted and confirmed by third-party system |
872 | completed | rejected | successfully transferred but rejected by third-party system |
880 | failed | incorrectly completed, possibly user intervention required | |
890 | unknown | unexpected error / status |
4. Command-Line Tool MFT-Control
You can also initiate, monitor and control a transfer job from a shell using the tool MFT-Control (mftctl) which is located in /opt/tixel/bin/mftctl.
The following gives a brief overview of its functionality. For a complete list of available commands run the tool without any parameters.
Currently mftctl can only be used to create jobs with directories (single files cannot be specified) as source. Further it is not intended for configuration purposes like creating new shares or nodes. As with TCC you need valid credentials to initiate any actions with TIXstream MFT using the command-line flags -u user -p password. Additionally you need to specify a command indicating which action you would like to perform. Supported commands for these actions are cancel, delete, pause, start, upload, watch. Except for upload, each of these commands needs a valid job ID, specifying the job you want to control.
To initiate an upload of the directory subfolder located underneath the source share with the configured public URI file://mft/source/ to a destination system with the name tixmft02 and the destination share inbox execute:
/opt/tixel/bin/mftctl -u demo -p secret upload file://mft/source/subfolder tixmft02:inbox
By default mftctl stays in foreground and displays transfer progress until the job is finished. For a long running transfer you can also hit Ctrl-C to interrupt the monitoring/watching of the current transfer (the transfer will continue though) and pickup watching later by specifying the job ID via -i, e.g.:
/opt/tixel/bin/mftctl -u demo -p secret watch -i 20180426T133726-IU41Bsj2qQ-mftlin-out
The commands cancel, delete, pause and start work similar.
Note | In a production environment you should not provide your password in plain text as command-line argument. You should omit your password (keep the ´-p´ switch) and enter it when you are asked. |
You can use both TCC and mftctl in parallel, i.e. initiate uploads via command-line and use the Web-UI to monitor them and vice versa. To identify a job use the corresponding job ID.
5. TIXwatch
TIXwatch can be optionally enabled and configured by the admin in TIXstream MFT. It can be configured to monitor specific directories (watch folders) and initiate transfer jobs for new files or folders that have been copied, moved or linked into one of those watch folders.
As user you just need to have write access to that folder (please ask your admin for details) and e.g. copy files with a file manager tool or via command-line into that folder. TIXwatch regularly checks the folder and automatically transfers the new content to the pre-configured destination. If you have access to TCC, you can also monitor and control the corresponding transfer jobs as you would do when you have created them via the Web-UI or the command-line.
Files and folders within the watch folder are not deleted or moved by TIXwatch after they have been transferred.