System Requirements

On the end user side, FileCatalyst TransferAgent was designed to run on a multitude of operating systems and hardware configurations. Below are the minimum requirements:

  • Dual Core, 2GB+ RAM, 80MB+ of free disk space
  • 64-bit Linux operating system (embedded 64-bit OpenJDK JRE)
  • Recent web browser: Safari (macOS only), Chrome, Firefox, Edge
  • Broadband Internet connection
  • Network connectivity to FileCatalyst Direct Server, third party FTP servers are not supported

Download the Installer

The organization hosting the FileCatalyst-enabled file transfer page will provide a link to a version of FileCatalyst TransferAgent, typically but not always from the same dialog used to access this guide.

Once the browser has completed downloading the installer, you will have to manually install the application on your system. Steps on how to perform installation process, can be found below found below.

Installer Process

Installation Steps

  1. Create a directory at /opt/utechsoft/transferagent
  2. Download the TransferAgent tarball (fc_transferagent.tar.gz) into this directory
  3. If a UI based unpacking tool is available, use that tool to unpack the TransferAgent tarball into the directory. If a UI unpacking tool is not available, then run the following commands from a terminal window.
    • cd /opt/utechsoft/transferagent
    • gunzip fc_transferagent.tar.gz
    • tar -xvf fc_transferagent.tar
  4. With the tarball unpacked, you will now have access to the installation README file. The rest of the installation steps that you will need for this application can be found there.

Upgrading the TransferAgent Application

Upgrading FileCatalyst TransferAgent requires a sequence of steps be taken based on the installation platform. Some steps are optional (to safeguard configuration data in case of a rollback), but should be followed to ensure the smoothest upgrade experience.

  1. Stop the FileCatalyst TransferAgent.
    If you are running the FileCatalyst TransferAgent stand-alone (i.e. running fc_transferagent.sh or fc_transferagent_console.sh script), you need to shut FileCatalyst TransferAgent down before executing an upgrade. The following commands can be done to shut the service down and verify that processes are not running.
    • Execute the command "fc_transferagent_shutdown.sh".
    • Verify the service is down by running the command: ps -ef | egrep -i "filecatalystransferagent"
    If you are running the FileCatalyst TransferAgent as a service, you need to shut it down using one of the following commands:
    • Linux: service fctransferagent stop
    • Solaris: svcadm -v disable fctransferagent
  2. If you have installed the service you must run the service_wrapper/uninstall.sh script to ensure that the application is completely uninstalled.
  3. Backup configuration files.
    If upgrading from v3.6 or less, you should copy the following configuration files into an "upgrade" folder: cd /opt/utechsoft/transferagent/
    mkdir ./upgrade
    cp fcta.conf ./upgrade
    cp origins.json ./upgrade
    cp ./service_wrapper/fc_env ./upgrade

    If upgrading from v3.7 or greater, you should also copy the following configuration files into an "upgrade" folder: cp sites.json ./upgrade
    cp www/express-src/js/config.js ./upgrade
  4. Unpack the software: gunzip ./fc_transferagent.tar.gz
    tar -xvf ./fc_transferagent.tar
  5. Copy back all of the files that you moved during step 2
  6. If you are running as a service you must rerun the service_wrapper/install.sh script to reinstall the service.
  7. Restart the FileCatalyst TransferAgent application (either as a service or standalone).

Accessing the TransferAgent Application

Local web browser:

On the Linux machine, start your favourite web browser go to https://localhost.filecatalyst.net:12680/config.html the port 12680 is used by default, change this value if you configured a different port.

Headless

See the Headless Section

Uninstalling the TransferAgent Application

Uninstall Steps

Note: You may need admin access to perform some of these commands

  • If you are running the FileCatalyst TransferAgent stand-alone, you will need to shut FileCatalyst TransferAgent down. To accomplish this, follow these steps:
    • Open a new Terminal window
    • Navigate to the folder where your TransferAgent is installed (e.g. /opt/utechsoft/transferagent/)           
    • Execute the command './fc_transferagent_shutdown.sh'
    • Verify the service is down by running the command ps -ef | egrep -i "filecatalyst"
  • If you are running the FileCatalyst TransferAgent as a service stop the service by using the appropriate command for your version of Linux in the terminal window (Ubuntu e.g. "service fctransferagent stop")
    • Remove the service by navigating to service_wrapper folder located within the server folder (e.g. /opt/utechsoft/transferagent/service_wrapper)
    • Run ./uninstall.sh
  • You can now remove the folder structure by using rm -rf  <path to the server directory> (e.g. rm -rf /opt/utechsoft/transferagent)

Configuration on a headless system

Linux headless (no monitor, keyboard or mouse)

The following is a list of commands that are available to the FileCatalyst TransferAgent from the terminal

Note: You may need admin access to perform some of these commands

                    

> cd /opt/utechsoft/transferagent
> jre\bin\java -jar FileCatalystTransferAgent.jar -help  --> to read help on headless command prompt operation
Command-line usage for FileCatalyst TransferAgent
Usage:
  java -jar FileCatalystTransferAgent.jar [COMMANDS] [options]

HELP COMMANDS:
  -help                                  --> Prints this help to console
  -version                               --> Prints out the Version number

RUN COMMANDS:
  -headless                              --> Run TransferAgent In A Headless Mode

ADDITIONAL COMMANDS:
  -shutdown                              --> Asks a running FileCatalyst TransferAgent to shut down
  -diagnostic                            --> Asks a running FileCatalyst TransferAgent to generate a diagnostic report
  -requestString                         --> Prints the license request string for this TransferAgent

INTERACTIVE COMMANDS:
  The following commands prompts user for more input to perform actions.
  FileCatalyst TransferAgent should be shut down first before running.

  -configureCentral                      --> Configure values needed for Central connection
  -configureAlarmConfig                  --> Configure alarms to for Central connection
  -configureRemoteControl                --> Configure the Remote Control credentials for this TransferAgent
  -configureWebCertificate               --> Configure the TransferAgent web security certificate
  -setLicense                            --> Set a license on this TransferAgent instance
                        
Central Security Model

By default TransferAgent connected to Central will allow access to any path on the local system. This means that Central Administrator or any user assigned in Central to the node will be allowed to upload/download files to/from any arbitrary location on the system running TransferAgent connected to Central.

To limit access, at least one Virtual Path has to be created in TransferAgent. Creation/Deletion of virtual Paths as well as changing of the default download path is not allowed from Central. All Virtual Path operations have to be done locally and not via Central.