Version 23.4.8839

• Overview
• Connector Configuration
  • Settings Tab
    • Authorization
    • Send
    • Receive
    • Caching
  • Automation Tab
    • Automation Settings
    • Performance
  • Alerts Tab
    • Connector Email Settings
    • Service Level Agreement (SLA) Settings
  • Advanced Tab
    • Proxy Settings
    • Advanced Settings
    • Message
    • Logging
    • Miscellaneous
• Establishing a Connection
• Uploading and Downloading
  • Upload
  • Download

The Dropbox connector supports uploading to and downloading from the Dropbox cloud storage service.

Overview

Each Dropbox connector connects to a specified Dropbox storage account. Within the remote storage, you set a single folder as the upload target, and a list of folders as the download target.

Files that reach the Dropbox connector in the CData Arc flow are uploaded to the upload target folder, and files found in the download target folder are downloaded and entered into the Arc flow. The connector supports upload and download filters to send and receive only specific file names and/or file extensions.

Account authentication uses OAuth, so you must enter account credentials in an external site portal the first time the connector connects. The external portal generates an OAuth token that the connector uses to connect, then the connector handles token refresh automatically.

Connector Configuration

This section contains all of the configurable connector properties.

Settings Tab

Authorization

• Connector Id The static, unique identifier for the connector.
• Connector Type Displays the connector name and a description of what it does.
• Connector Description An optional field to provide a free-form description of the connector and its role in the flow.

Use the Connect button to authenticate the connector with the storage service the first time. You are redirected to a site login portal. After you provide the account credentials, an authentication token is returned to Arc and stored for repeat use.

Send

Settings related to uploading to the remote storage.

• Remote Folder Files processed by the connector are uploaded to this folder.
• Overwrite Whether to overwrite or skip existing files.

Receive

Settings related to downloading from the remote storage.

• Remote Folder The remote folder from which files are downloaded. Use a comma-delimited list to specify multiple paths.
• File Mask A glob pattern that determines which files within the Remote Path should be downloaded (for example, *.txt).
• Delete Check this to delete successfully downloaded files from the remote storage.

Caching

Settings related to caching and comparing files between multiple downloads.

• File Size Comparison Check this to keep a record of downloaded file names and sizes. Previously downloaded files are skipped unless the file size is different than the last download.
• Timestamp Comparison Check this to keep a record of downloaded file names and last-modified timestamps. Previously downloaded files are skipped unless the timestamp is different than the last download.

Note: When you enable caching, the file names are case-insensitive. For example, the connector cannot distinguish between TEST.TXT and test.txt.

Automation Tab

Automation Settings

Settings related to the automatic processing of files by the connector.

• Send Whether files arriving at the connector are automatically uploaded.
• Retry Interval The amount of time before a failed upload is retried.
• Max Attempts The maximum number of times the connector processes the input file. Success is measured based on a successful server acknowledgement. If you set this to 0, the connector retries the file indefinitely.
• Receive Whether the connector should automatically poll the remote download path for files to download.
• Receive Interval The interval between automatic download attempts.
• Minutes Past the Hour The minutes offset for an hourly schedule. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Hourly. For example, if this value is set to 5, the automation service downloads at 1:05, 2:05, 3:05, etc.
• Time The time of day that the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
• Day The day on which the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Weekly or Monthly.
• Minutes The number of minutes to wait before attempting the download. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Minute.
• Cron Expression A five-position string representing a cron expression that determines when the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Advanced.

Performance

Settings related to the allocation of resources to the connector.

• Max Workers The maximum number of worker threads consumed from the threadpool to process files on this connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Settings > Automation page.
• Max Files The maximum number of files sent by each thread assigned to the connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Settings > Automation page.

Alerts Tab

Settings related to configuring alerts and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

Connector Email Settings

Before you can execute SLAs, you need to set up email alerts for notifications. Clicking Configure Alerts opens a new browser window to the Settings page where you can set up system-wide alerts. See Alerts for more information.

Service Level Agreement (SLA) Settings

SLAs enable you to configure the volume you expect connectors in your flow to send or receive, and to set the time frame in which you expect that volume to be met. CData Arc sends emails to warn the user when an SLA is not met, and marks the SLA as At Risk, which means that if the SLA is not met soon, it will be marked as Violated. This gives the user an opportunity to step in and determine the reasons the SLA is not being met, and to take appropriate actions. If the SLA is still not met at the end of the at-risk time period, the SLA is marked as violated, and the user is notified again.

To define an SLA, click Add Expected Volume Criteria.

• If your connector has separate send and receive actions, use the radio buttons to specify which direction the SLA pertains to.
• Set Expect at least to the minimum number of transactions (the volume) you expect to be processed, then use the Every fields to specify the time frame.
• By default, the SLA is in effect every day. To change that, uncheck Everyday then check the boxes for the days of the week you want.
• Use And set status to ‘At Risk’ to indicate when the SLA should be marked as at risk.
• By default, notifications are not sent until an SLA is in violation. To change that, check Send an ‘At Risk’ notification.

The following example shows an SLA configured for a connector that expects to receive 1000 files every day Monday-Friday. An at-risk notification is sent 1 hour before the end of the time period if the 1000 files have not been received.

Advanced Tab

Proxy Settings

These are a collection of settings that identify and authenticate to the proxy through which the Dropbox connection should be routed. By default, this section uses the global settings on the Settings Page. Clear the checkbox to supply settings specific to your connector.

• Proxy Type The protocol used by a proxy-based firewall.
• Proxy Host The name or IP address of a proxy-based firewall.
• Proxy Port The TCP port for a proxy-based firewall.
• Proxy User The user name to use to authenticate with a proxy-based firewall.
• Proxy Password A password used to authenticate to a proxy-based firewall.
• Authentication Scheme Leave the default None or choose from one of the following authentication schemes: Basic, Digest, Proprietary, or NTLM.

Advanced Settings

Settings not included in the previous categories.

• Recurse Whether to download files in subfolders of the target remote path.
• Processing Delay The amount of time (in seconds) by which the processing of files placed in the Input folder is delayed. This is a legacy setting. Best practice is to use a File connector to manage local file systems instead of this setting.
• Timeout The length of time (in seconds) the server waits for a connection response before throwing a timeout error.
• Receive Filter A glob pattern filter to determine which files should be downloaded from the remote storage (for example, *.txt). You can use negative patterns to indicate files that should not be downloaded (for example, -*.tmp). Use this setting when you need multiple File Mask patterns. Multiple patterns can be separated by commas, with later filters taking priority except when an exact match is found.

Message

• Save to Sent Folder Check this to copy files processed by the connector to the Sent folder for the connector.
• Sent Folder Scheme Instructs the connector to group messages in the Sent folder according to the selected interval. For example, the Weekly option instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all messages for the week in that folder. The blank setting tells the connector to save all messages directly in the Sent folder. For connectors that process many messages, using subfolders helps keep messsages organized and improves performance.

Logging

• Log Level The verbosity of logs generated by the connector. When you request support, set this to Debug.
• Log Subfolder Scheme Instructs the connector to group files in the Logs folder according to the selected interval. For example, the Weekly option instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all logs for the week in that folder. The blank setting tells the connector to save all logs directly in the Logs folder. For connectors that process many transactions, using subfolders helps keep logs organized and improves performance.
• Log Messages Check this to have the log entry for a processed file include a copy of the file itself. If you disable this, you might not be able to download a copy of the file from the Input or Output tabs.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous settings are for specific use cases.

• Other Settings Enables you to configure hidden connector settings in a semicolon-separated list (for example, setting1=value1;setting2=value2). Normal connector use cases and functionality should not require the use of these settings.

Establishing a Connection

To establish a connection with the Dropbox connector, use the Connect button on the Settings tab to be directed to a login portal site. Enter your account credentials in this portal; it returns an authentication token to the connector. This process is only required the first time the connector connects to the storage service.

Uploading and Downloading

Upload

To upload files, set the Remote Folder in the Send portion of the Settings page to the folder where files should be uploaded. Each Dropbox connector uploads to a single folder location.

Use the Overwrite remote files option to indicate whether files that already exist in the container should be overwritten or skipped.

After configuration is complete, files placed in the connector Input tab are uploaded to the remote storage. If Send Automation is enabled, the upload happens automatically; otherwise, you can send individual files from the Input tab.

Download

To download files, set the Remote Folder in the Receive portion of the Settings page to the folder from where files should be downloaded. Use a comma-delimited list to specify multiple folders.

Use the File Mask to set a glob filter (for example *.txt) that limits the downloads to files matching the filter. To specify multiple filters, use the Receive Filter option on the Advanced tab.

Use Delete to specify whether successfully downloaded files should be removed from the remote storage.