--- title: "File Transfer Monitor configuration" description: "" url: "https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/collection/ftm-config/index.html" --- ## Overview Geneos Universal FTM plugin allows for monitoring arrival times of files. It is typically employed where the Exchange FTPs the previous day's trading reports to the client. These reports are expected to arrive at pre-defined times so that they can be automatically picked up by the back office systems for further processing. If a report is late, but before the 'drop dead' time, it can be flagged as an amber warning condition. If the report is not available after the 'drop dead' time, this can be flagged as a red critical condition. For example, consider a report file that is expected to be FTPd from the Exchange at 05:00 with a back office system programmed to process it at 05:30. If the report arrives before 05:00, the FTM will show green status, if the report arrives between 05:00 and 05:29:59, the status is amber, and if the report has not arrived or arrived after the 05:29:59 the status is red. FTM works by dividing the time into monitoring periods. By default, a monitoring period starts at 12:00 noon and finishes 11:59:59 the following day. The FTM plugin is aware of the current monitoring period and any files that exist, are ignored if their timestamp is outside of the monitoring period. This ensures that FTM monitors for fresh file arrivals and does not confuse them with older files that may be there from the previous monitoring period. It is possible to switch the monitoring period between `Noon_to_noon`, as described above, and `Midnight_to_midnight`. **Note** Monitoring periods for holiday dates and days are ignored only for daily expected period. See [files > file > expectedPeriod](#files--file--expectedperiod) for more details on expected periods. ### View The FTM plugin can be used to monitor arrival times of any file, for example the log file of a batch process that must be run at a specific time. **Note**  The date and time used by the FTM plugin are always in the timezone of the Netprobe running the sampler. By default, all dates and times are displayed in a standard FTM format that is always in the local time of the Netprobe. The date and time format can be changed to ISO8601 format, which includes the local timezone offset. Please see [displayTimeInIso8601Format in configuration](#displaytimeiniso8601format). ![](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/plug-ins/ftm-dataview-5-14.png) #### Headline Legend
Name Description
totalFilesExpected Number of files configured.
filesDelayed Number of files that have not arrived yet and are past their due arrival time.
lateArrivals Number of files that have arrived, but later than expected, i.e. where the Delay time is greater than zero.
totalReceived Number of files received.
#### Table Legend
Name Description
Filename

Name of the file or its alias.

The Filename column can only display up to 255 characters. Paths or aliases longer than 255 characters will be truncated, but they can still be detected and monitored. The View File and Accept File Delay commands will still work as expected, even if the displayed path or alias is truncated.

Caution: Beginning Windows 10, long paths can be enabled but the FTM plugin may not detect paths longer than 260 characters. For more information on long paths in Windows, see Enable Long Paths in Windows 10, Version 1607, and Later.
expectedTime Time the file is expected.
arrivalTime Time the file has arrived.
Delay Number of seconds the file is delayed by, counted from the expected time. If the file arrives before its expected time, the delay is set to zero.
currentFileSize Current size of the file that was transferred. This can be used to detect files that have not transferred properly.
actualFilename Actual file being monitored that is only visible if showActualFilename is set.
periodStart Start of the current monitoring period.
periodEnd End of the current monitoring period.
## Plugin Configuration The following parameters can be configured for this plugin: ### files Allows the configuration of files. Mandatory: Yes ### files > file > path The full path to the file. Example: ``` /usr/data/FileX.dat ``` If ``, including the `< >` brackets, is specified as part of the file name, it will result in the automatic substitution of the date in `yyyymmdd` format. Additionally, you can include one or more formatting codes to format the date - ``. Also, in place of the `` keyword, you can use these keywords when specifying the filename:
Date keyword Description
<today...> Current date.
<today+x...> Current date + x actual days. This does not include the monitored days and holidays.
<today-x...> Current date - x actual days. This does not include the monitored days and holidays.
<yesterday...>

Actual date yesterday with respect to holidays.

For example, if today is Monday, and Saturday and Sunday are set as holidays, then the yesterday tag is the date of the previous Friday.
<tomorrow...> Actual date tomorrow.
<previous_monitored_day...>

Previous day with respect to holidays and monitored days.

If both holidays and monitoredDays are configured, then only holiday dates are honored while holiday days are ignored.
<previous_monitored_day-x...>

Previous monitored day minus the previous x number of monitored days. This includes holidays and monitored days.

If both holidays and monitoredDays are configured, then only the holiday dates are honored but the holiday days are ignored.
<next_monitored_day...>

Next day with respect to holidays and monitored days.

If both holidays and monitoredDays are configured, then only the holiday dates are honored but the holiday days are ignored.
<next_monitored_day+x...>

Next monitored day plus the next x number of monitored days. This includes the holidays and monitored days.

If both holidays and monitoredDays are configured, then only the holiday dates are honored but the holiday days are ignored.
Sample path configuration details for FTM plugin: ![](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/plug-ins/ftm-setting-5-14.png) ![](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/plug-ins/ftm-dataview-5-14.png) #### Date keyword expansions When using the `+x` or `-x` values into the date keywords to offset the date on the filename, note the following behaviours when introducing spaces (depicted as the `␣` character) in formatting:
Date keyword expansion format Behaviour and outcome
<today␣> Ignores the space and uses the default %Y%m%d format. If the date today is 30 June 2018, then the outcome is: 20180630.dat
<today␣%Y␣%m␣%d␣> Ignores the spaces around the date format, but includes the spaces in-between. If the date today is 30 June 2018, then the outcome is: 2018 06 30.dat
<today␣+␣10␣> Ignores the spaces and uses the default %Y%m%d format. This format also offsets by the value of the number indicated. If the date today is 30 June 2018, then the outcome is: 20180710.dat
<today␣+␣1␣0␣> Offsets by the value of the first digit, and interprets the subsequent digit as the format string. As a consequence, this format renders the offset invisible, even though the offset is in effect due to the first digit. Regardless of the date, the outcome is: 0.dat
<today␣+␣1␣0␣%Y-%m-%d␣> Offsets by the value of the first digit, and interprets the subsequent digit as part of the %Y-%m-%d format. If the date today is 30 June 2018, then the outcome is: 0 2018-07-01.dat
The limitations for offsets to `today`, `previous_monitored_day-x`, and `next_monitored_day+x` path keywords are set to: - Lower bounds: -3650 - Upper bounds: 3650 The invalid offsets get an expanded value equivalent to the base tag. If you have ``, then the date becomes ``.
Formatting code Description
%a Abbreviated weekday name.
%A Full weekday name.
%b Abbreviated month name.
%^b Abbreviated month name (but capitalised).
%B Full month name.
%d Day of month as decimal number (01 - 31).
%j Day of year as decimal number (001 - 366).
%m Month as decimal number (01 - 12).
%U Week of year as decimal number, with Sunday as first day of week (00 - 53).
%w Weekday as decimal number (0 - 6; Sunday is 0).
%W Week of year as decimal number, with Monday as first day of week (00 - 53).
%x Date representation for current locale.
%y Year without century, as decimal number (00 - 99).
%Y Year with century, as decimal number.
%Z Time-zone name or abbreviation; no characters if time zone is unknown.
Examples:
Configured Equivalent (if date is 24 September 2003)
filename<today%d%m%Y>.txt filename24092003.txt
filename<today%d%b%Y>.txt filename24Sep2003.txt
filename<today%d%^b%Y>.txt filename24SEP2003.txt
filename<today%d-%b-%Y>.txt filename24-Sep-2003.txt
Mandatory: Yes ### files > file > additionalPaths Allows the user to configure multiple paths with filename under one file configuration in the FTM plugin. If additional paths are specified, then the FTM plugin will monitor the files in [files > file > path](#files--file--path) and the files in the additional paths with the following behaviours: - If the FTM plugin finds a file, then the details of that file are displayed in the dataview. - If the FTM plugin finds one or more files in the list, then the details of the latest modified file are displayed in the corresponding row in the dataview. - If the FTM plugin finds two or more files with the same modification timestamp, then the details of the first match in the list are displayed in the dataview. When using additional paths, note the following: - It is highly recommended to configure [files > file > alias](#files--file--alias) to keep the **Filename** column value constant and the monitoring easier for you. When [files > file > alias](#files--file--alias) is set, then enable the [showActualFilename](#showactualfilename) setting to display the **actualFilename** column, which shows the detected file. - Wildcards are not supported. If any path, either main or additional, has a wildcard character, then the FTM plugin will ignore the particular file set, **samplingStatus** will display `WARNING`, and logs will include the ignored paths. - Case insensitive filename setting will be ignored, which means that the paths under a file configuration with additional paths will always be processed as case sensitive in Unix platforms. Limit: Only 20 additional paths can be set. Mandatory: No ### files > file > expectedArrival The expected time in the HH:MM:SS format. Mandatory: Yes ### files > file > expectedPeriod Specifies how often the file is transferred. Possible values:
Setting Description
daily

File is expected every day. For more information, see Daily.
weekly

File is expected every week. The day on which the file will arrive should also be specified. For more information, see Weekly.
monthly

File is expected every month. The date on which the file will arrive should also be specified. Last may be chosen if the file will always arrive on the last day of the month. For more information, see Monthly.

Beginning Geneos 5.4.x, you can also configure the file to arrive on the basis of an nth workday of the month. For more information, see Day of month.
**Caution** The [monitoredDays](#monitoreddays) and the [files > file > expectedPeriod](#files--file--expectedperiod) settings are not compatible. The behaviour is undefined, if these two settings are used in conjunction. Mandatory: No Default: `daily` #### Daily The following are the expected times depending on the configured day, time, and monitoring period: **Note** The results below assume that the [monitoredDays](#monitoreddays) setting is disabled. Therefore, `Saturday` and `Sunday` are considered as holiday, and if today is `Monday`, then the `` tag is the date of the previous `Friday`. If the expected arrival time set is earlier than the current Netprobe machine time and the expected period is set on the same day, then the expected time in the dataview will fall on the same day with delay.
Today Netprobe Machine Time FTM Expected Arrival in GSE Monitoring Period FTM Expected Time in Dataview
Monday Before Noon Before Noon Noon to Noon Before Noon, Same Day
Before Noon After Noon Noon to Noon After Noon, Previous Friday
Before Noon Before Noon Midnight to Midnight Before Noon, Same Day
Before Noon After Noon Midnight to Midnight After Noon, Same Day
After Noon Before Noon Noon to Noon Before Noon, Next Day
After Noon After Noon Noon to Noon After Noon, Same Day
After Noon Before Noon Midnight to Midnight Before Noon, Same Day
After Noon After Noon Midnight to Midnight After Noon, Same Day
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Before Noon Before Noon Noon to Noon Before Noon, Same Day
Before Noon After Noon Noon to Noon After Noon, Previous Day
Before Noon Before Noon Midnight to Midnight Before Noon, Same Day
Before Noon After Noon Midnight to Midnight After Noon, Same Day
After Noon Before Noon Noon to Noon Before Noon, Next Day
After Noon After Noon Noon to Noon After Noon, Next Day
After Noon Before Noon Midnight to Midnight Before Noon, Same Day
After Noon After Noon Midnight to Midnight After Noon, Same Day
Friday Before Noon Before Noon Noon to Noon Before Noon, Same Day
Before Noon After Noon Noon to Noon After Noon, Previous Day
Before Noon Before Noon Midnight to Midnight Before Noon, Same Day
Before Noon After Noon Midnight to Midnight After Noon, Same Day
After Noon Before Noon Noon to Noon Before Noon, Next Monday
After Noon After Noon Noon to Noon After Noon, Same Day
After Noon Before Noon Midnight to Midnight Before Noon, Same Day
After Noon After Noon Midnight to Midnight After Noon, Same Day
Saturday, Sunday Before Noon Before Noon Noon to Noon Before Noon, Next Monday
Before Noon After Noon Noon to Noon After Noon, Previous Friday
Before Noon Before Noon Midnight to Midnight Before Noon, Previous Friday
Before Noon After Noon Midnight to Midnight After Noon, Previous Friday
After Noon Before Noon Noon to Noon Before Noon, Next Monday
After Noon After Noon Noon to Noon After Noon, Previous Friday
After Noon Before Noon Midnight to Midnight Before Noon, Previous Friday
After Noon After Noon Midnight to Midnight After Noon, Previous Friday
#### Weekly Sunday - Monday
Netprobe Machine Time FTM Expected Arrival in GSE Monitoring Period FTM Expected Time in Dataview
Before Noon Before Noon Noon to Noon Before Noon, Expected Period in GSE
Before Noon After Noon Noon to Noon After Noon, Expected Period in GSE
Before Noon Before Noon Midnight to Midnight Before Noon, Expected Period in GSE
Before Noon After Noon Midnight to Midnight After Noon, Expected Period in GSE
After Noon Before Noon Noon to Noon Before Noon, Expected Period in GSE
After Noon After Noon Noon to Noon After Noon, Expected Period in GSE
After Noon Before Noon Midnight to Midnight Before Noon, Expected Period in GSE
After Noon After Noon Midnight to Midnight After Noon, Expected Period in GSE
#### Monthly **Note** For monthly expected period, if the expected period set is earlier than the current Netprobe machine day, the expected time in the dataview will fall on the expected period set, next month.
Monitoring Day Expected Period Expected Time in Dataview
December 4 Monthly, Day 1 January 1
##### Day of month Beginning Geneos 5.4.x, the `dayOfMonth` option is available to the FTM sampler. ![Day of month option on the Gateway Setup Editor](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/plug-ins/ftm-day-of-month.png)
Option Description
Count

Sets the nth day of the month in which you want the file to arrive.

If the count value exceeds the possible days of the month defined, then the FTM sampler sets the file to arrive on the last day of the month.

Possible values: 1 to 31

Default value: 1
Reference

Sets the point of reference for counting the days of the month.

Possible values:

  • From_end_of_month — the FTM sampler counts from the end of the month.
  • From_start_of_month — the FTM sampler counts from the start of the month.

If not defined, then the FTM sampler counts from the start of the month.
Days

Sets which days of the week to consider as a day of the month.

If not defined, then it defaults to all days.
###### Example usage Consider the following calendar month of October 2020: ![Month of October 2020](https://docscdn.itrsgroup.com/geneos/images/plug-ins/ftm-calendar-example.png)
FTM dayOfMonth setting Behaviour Result
FTM example — fifth workday of the month, given a Monday to Friday workweek

The FTM sampler considers the working days of the month to be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

The file is expected to arrive on the fifth workday of the month.

 The file arrives on Wednesday, 7 October 2020.
FTM example — third to the last workday of the month, given a Monday to Friday workweek

The FTM sampler considers the working days of the month to be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

The file is expected to arrive on the third workday from the end of the month.

 The file arrives on Wednesday, 28 October 2020.
FTM example — first Friday of the month

The FTM sampler considers the working days of the month to only be Friday.

The file is expected to arrive on the first Friday of the month.

 The file arrives on Friday, 2 October 2020.
FTM example — last Monday of the month

The FTM sampler considers the working days of the month to only be Monday.

The file is expected to arrive on the last Monday of the month.

 The file arrives on Monday, 26 October 2020.
FTM example — 31st workday of the month

The FTM sampler considers the working days of the month to be Wednesday and Thursday.

The file is expected to arrive on the 31st workday of the month.

Since this workday exceeds the number of workdays in the month, the FTM sampler considers the last workday of the month, instead.

 The file arrives on Thursday, 29 October 2020.
FTM example — tenth day of the month

The FTM sampler considers all days of the month.

The file is expected to arrive every 10th of the month.

 The file arrives on Saturday, 10 October 2020.
### files > file > tzOffset The time-zone offset is used when files have date / time formatting in the filename, but the file is produced in a time-zone which may lead to the file having a different date from the expected. The parameter specifies the number of hours difference between the time-zone the probe is running in and the time-zone in which the file is produced. For example, if the Netprobe is running in London and the file is produced in New York with a time difference of -5 hours, then tzOffset should be set to -5. This way, if the file is produced at 10pm in New York (3am in London), FTM will know to expect a filename with what will be the previous days date. Mandatory: No Units: Hours Default: `0` ### files > file > monitoringPeriod Specifies the monitoring period. If the monitoring period is also set at the sampler level, then it will not be applied to the file. Mandatory: No Default: `periodAlias` > `Noon_to_noon` ### files > file > monitoringPeriod > periodAlias Specifies the monitoring period using a period alias. The following are the possible values: Mandatory: No Default: `Noon_to_noon`
Setting Description
Noon_to_noon Monitoring period starts at 12:00pm and ends at 11:59am the following day.
Midnight_to_midnight Monitoring period starts at 12:00am and ends at 11:59pm on the same day.
   
### files > file > monitoringPeriod > periodStartTime Specifies the monitoring period using a specific time in `HH:MM` format. For example, if `12:00` is set as the periodStartTime, then it is the same with the `Noon_to_noon` period alias. Mandatory: No Default: `12:00` ### files > file > alias Specifies a more readable name for the file to be displayed in the first column of the view. Mandatory: No Default: Original filename ### files > file > activePeriod An amount in seconds that gets added before and after the expected time of a file to provide a period during which file arrivals should be recognized and responded to and ignored otherwise. This is useful when you are monitoring the arrival of a file with the same name two or more times during the day. If a file arrives after (expectedTime + activePeriod), then none of the displayed metrics should be affected. Mandatory: No Default: Nothing ### monitoringPeriod Specifies the monitoring period. If the monitoring period is also set at the file level, then the value in this setting will not be applied to the file. Mandatory: No Default: `periodAlias` > `Noon_to_noon` ### monitoringPeriod > periodAlias Specifies the monitoring period using a period alias. The following are the possible values: Mandatory: No Default: `Noon_to_noon`
Setting Description
Noon_to_noon Monitoring period starts at 12:00pm and ends at 11:59am the following day.
Midnight_to_midnight Monitoring period starts at 12:00am and ends at 11:59pm on the same day.
   
### monitoringPeriod > periodStartTime Specifies the monitoring period using a specific time in `HH:MM` format. For example, if `12:00` is set as the periodStartTime, then it is the same with the `Noon_to_noon` period alias. Mandatory: No Default: `12:00` ### holidays Specifies the holidays, which can be defined in the following ways: - As a date with `DD-Month-[YYYY]` format where - `DD` — day of the month. The leading `0` in the date is optional. For example, `1` and `01` are accepted. - `Month` — short or full name of the month. For example, `Jan` and `January` are accepted. - `YYYY` — year. When the year is not specified, the FTM plugin will automatically apply the holiday period every year. - As a day such as `monday`, `tuesday`, `wednesday`, `thursday`, `friday`, `saturday`, and `sunday`. While in the holiday period, the FTM plugin still monitors delays and file arrivals. If the next day is set as a holiday, then the monitoring period is extended until the next monitoring period starts. For example: - If the monitoringPeriod is `Noon_to_noon` and `saturday` and `sunday` are set as holidays, then on Friday, the monitoring period will start on Friday 12:00:00 and will end on Monday 11:59:59. The next non-holiday period after this will start on Monday noon. - If the monitoringPeriod is `Midnight_to_midnight` and `saturday` and `sunday` are set as holidays, then the monitoring period will starts on Friday 00:00:00 and will end on Monday 23:59:59. The next non-holiday period after this will start on Monday midnight. The monitoring period typically lasts 24 hours less 1 second. If the end of the monitoring period falls on a holiday, then the monitoring period is extended until the start of the next monitoring period. The FTM plugin always sets the expected arrival date to a non-holiday date within the monitoring period. To further illustrate this, please see examples below: **Caution**  If [monitoredDays](#monitoreddays) is set, then any configuration in the `holidays` settings will not affect the FTM plugin. Mandatory: No Default: `saturday` and `sunday`
Monitoring Period Holidays Files Expected values in FTM on a Friday afternoon
Noon_to_noon saturday and sunday

File 1 arriving in the morning

File 2 arriving in the afternoon

periodStart: Friday 12:00:00

periodEnd: Monday 11:59:59

expectedTime for File 1: Monday morning

expectedTime for File 2: Friday afternoon
Midnight_to_midnight saturday and sunday

File 1 arriving in the morning

File 2 arriving in the afternoon

periodStart: Friday 00:00:00

periodEnd: Monday 23:59:59

expectedTime for File 1: Friday morning

expectedTime for File 2: Friday afternoon
### monitoredDays This setting allows FTM to track arriving files and compute delays only on certain days of the week. Each day will be monitored for a 24-hour period starting on the time configured in the [monitoringPeriod](#monitoringperiod). On a non-monitored day, all the arriving files are ignored and delays are not computed. The [holidays](#holidays) configuration is ignored if this option is used. **Caution** The [monitoredDays](#monitoreddays) and the [files > file > expectedPeriod](#files--file--expectedperiod) settings are not compatible. The behaviour is undefined, if these two settings are used in conjunction. Mandatory: No Default: If [monitoredDays](#monitoreddays) is not set, the configuration from the [files > file > expectedPeriod](#files--file--expectedperiod) setting will be applied. ### consistentDateStamps By default, the FTM plugin uses the Netprobe host's date and timestamp as reference for its date and time resolution. For example, the filename function `` uses the Netprobe host's date and timestamp and the value of the **monitoredDays** setting to determine the filename. If **consistentDateStamps** is set to `true`, the expected filename is based on the date and time at the start of the monitoring period. For example, the filename function `` uses the date and time of the start of the monitoring period and the value of the **monitoredDays** setting to determine the filename. Mandatory: No Default: `false` ### displayTimeInIso8601Format Allows you to configure the date and time format in the date-time columns of the FTM dataview. If this setting is set to `true`, then the dates and times are displayed in ISO 8601 format. If this setting is disabled or set to `false`, then the dates and times are displayed in the FTM format. The following are examples of the FTM and ISO 8601 date and time formats: Mandatory: No Default: `false`
Format Sample value
FTM format Wednesday September 30 12:59:59
ISO 8601 Format 2022-09-30T12:59:59+08:00
### showPreviousDay If set to `true`, then the FTM plugin generates and displays a separate **Previous Day** dataview. The data displayed in this dataview is stored in a file by the plugin when the current day ends based on the [monitoringPeriod](#monitoringperiod) setting. If the [files > file > monitoringPeriod](#files--file--monitoringperiod) and [monitoringPeriod](#monitoringperiod) are set, then the [files > file > monitoringPeriod](#files-file-monitoringperiod) setting will be followed. If the [monitoredDays](#monitoreddays) setting is configured and `today` is an unmonitored day, then the **Previous Day** dataview will display the file activities from the last monitored day. **Note**  The **Previous Day** dataview is a snapshot of the last sample data in the previous monitoring period. Only the configured settings at the time of the last sampling of the previous monitoring period are applied in the **Previous Day** dataview. New settings applied in the current monitoring period will not reflect in the **Previous Day** dataview. Mandatory: No Default: `false` ### previousDayFile The full path of the file, including the filename, that the plugin should use for writing and reading data. The plugin should have a write permission to this location and file. Mandatory: No Default: `FTMpredaydata.dat` ### showActualFilename If set to `true`, then an additional **actualFilename** column showing the actual filename of each file is displayed in the dataview. This is useful when you specify a file alias. Mandatory: No Default: `false` ### delayUnit Specifies the unit of time of the values displayed in the **Delay** column. The following are the possible values: Mandatory: No Default: `Seconds`
Setting Description
Seconds Displays the delay time in seconds.
Minutes Displays the delay time in minutes.
Hours Displays the delay time in hours.
### sizeUnit Specifies the unit of size of the values displayed in the **currentFileSize** column. The following are the possible values: Mandatory: No Default: `Kilobytes`
Setting Description
Bytes Displays the current file size in bytes.
Kilobytes Displays the current file size in kilobytes.
Megabytes Displays the current file size in megabytes.
Gigabytes Displays the current file size in gigabytes.
### useChangedTime Determines whether `ctime` or `mtime` should be used when a monitored file arrived. If this setting is set to `true`, then `ctime` is used. Otherwise, `mtime` is used. Mandatory: No Default: `false`