Version 26.1.9515

• Key Capabilities
• Overview
• Connector Configuration
  • Settings Tab
    • Authentication
    • Server Authentication
    • Send
    • Receive
    • Caching
  • Automation Tab
    • Automation Settings
    • Performance
  • Alerts Tab
  • SLAs Tab
  • Advanced Tab
    • TLS Client Authentication
    • Advanced Settings
    • Proxy Settings
    • Message
    • Logging
    • Miscellaneous
• Establishing a Connection
• Uploading and Downloading
  • Upload
  • Download
• Macros
  • Examples

WebDAV connectors support uploading resources to and downloading resources from an HTTP server.

Key Capabilities

• HTTP-based file transfer with multiple authentication schemes (None, Basic, Digest, NTLM, and Negotiate)
• Bidirectional file synchronization with remote folder polling and file mask filtering
• TLS client authentication and proxy support for secure connections
• Optional caching to ensure only new or updated files are downloaded

Overview

Each WebDAV connector is configured with an upload path and download paths on the remote server. Files processed by the connector are automatically uploaded to the specified upload path, and the download paths are polled for resources to retrieve.

Connector Configuration

This section contains all of the configurable connector properties.

Settings Tab

Authentication

Settings related to authenticating with the remote connection target.

• 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.
• URL The URL of the remote HTTP server host.
• Auth Scheme The authentication scheme to use for the connection. Options are None, Basic (the default option), Digest, NTLM, Negotiate, and Proprietary.
• User Name The username credential for authenticating with the server.
• Password The password credential for authenticating with the server.
• Authorization Token The token required for authorization when Auth Scheme is set to Proprietary.

Server Authentication

Settings related to authenticating the identity of a TLS/SSL server.

• Server Public Certificate The public key certificate used to verify the identity of a TLS/SSL server. If the target server uses TLS/SSL, set this field to the certificate that identifies the server. If the server’s certificate is not available, you can leave this setting blank to allow the underlying OS/JVM to perform certificate validation, or set it to Any Certificate to implicitly trust the server’s identity.

Send

Settings related to uploading files to the remote server.

• 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 resources from the remote server.

• Remote Folder The folder on the remote server that is polled for files to download. 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 connect retries the file indefinitely.
• Receive Whether the connector should automatically poll the HTTP server 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 Performance Settings portion of the Advanced Settings 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 Performance Settings portion of the Advanced Settings page.

Alerts Tab

Settings related to configuring alerts.

Before you can execute Service Level Agreements (SLAs), you need to set up email alerts for notifications. By default, Arc uses the global settings on the Alerts tab. To use other settings for this connector, toggle Override global setting on.

By default, error alerts are enabled, which means that emails are sent whenever there is an error. To turn them off, uncheck the Enable checkbox.

Enter a Subject (mandatory), then optionally enter a comma-separated list of Recipient emails.

SLAs Tab

Settings related to configuring Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

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, toggle Expected Volume on, then click the Settings tab.

• If your connector has separate send and receive actions, use the radio buttons to specify which direction the SLA pertains to.
• In the Expect at least portion of the window:
  • Set the minimum number of transactions you expect to be processed (the volume)
  • Use the Every fields to specify the time frame
  • Indicate when the SLA should go into effect. If you choose Starting on, complete the date and time fields.
  • Check the boxes for the days of the week that you want the SLA to be in effect. Use the dropdown to choose Everyday if necessary.
• In the Set status to ‘At Risk’ portion of the window, specify 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.

Note: You can turn off SLA alerts if necessary. This can be useful during maintenance windows. Click Settings on the navbar, then navigate to Alerts > General Alerts. Click the tablet and pencil icon to edit, and uncheck the SLA Alerts setting.

Advanced Tab

TLS Client Authentication

Settings related to client authentication when two-way TLS authentication is required.

• Private Certificate The private certificate presented during TLS client authentication.
• Certificate Password The password required to access the TLS client certificate.

Advanced Settings

Settings not included in the previous categories.

• Excluded Extensions A comma-delimited list of file extensions that should not be processed by the connector.
• Recurse Whether to download files in subfolders of the target remote path.
• Timeout The length of time (in seconds) the server waits for a connection response before throwing a timeout error.
• Local File Scheme A scheme for assigning filenames to messages that are output by the connector. You can use macros in your filenames dynamically to include information such as identifiers and timestamps. For more information, see Macros.
• 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.

Proxy Settings

These are a collection of settings that identify and authenticate to the proxy through which the WebDAV connection should be routed. By default, this section uses the global settings on the Proxy Settings portion of the Security 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.

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. The Weekly option (which is the default) instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all logs for the week in that folder. Leaving this setting blank 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, the WebDAV connector requires the URL of the target HTTP server and any authentication credentials required by the server.

Set the Auth Scheme property to your authentication mechanism, and the Settings tab automatically updates with the appropriate set of credentials to enter.

Uploading and Downloading

Upload

To upload files, set the Remote Folder in the Send portion of the Settings page to the path on the remote HTTP server where files should be uploaded.

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

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

If a file fails to upload, the application attempts to send it again after the Retry Interval has elapsed. This process continues until the Max Attempts has been reached, after which the connector raises an error.

Download

To download files, set the Remote Folder in the Receive portion of the Settings page to the path on the remote HTTP server 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.

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

Macros

Using macros in file naming strategies can enhance organizational efficiency and contextual understanding of data. By incorporating macros into filenames, you can dynamically include relevant information such as identifiers, timestamps, and header information, providing valuable context to each file. This helps ensure that filenames reflect details important to your organization.

CData Arc supports these macros, which all use the following syntax: %Macro%.

Macro	Description
ConnectorID	Evaluates to the ConnectorID of the connector.
Ext	Evaluates to the file extension of the file currently being processed by the connector.
Filename	Evaluates to the filename (extension included) of the file currently being processed by the connector.
FilenameNoExt	Evaluates to the filename (without the extension) of the file currently being processed by the connector.
MessageId	Evaluates to the MessageId of the message being output by the connector.
RegexFilename:pattern	Applies a RegEx pattern to the filename of the file currently being processed by the connector.
Header:headername	Evaluates to the value of a targeted header (headername) on the current message being processed by the connector.
LongDate	Evaluates to the current datetime of the system in long-handed format (for example, Wednesday, January 24, 2024).
ShortDate	Evaluates to the current datetime of the system in a yyyy-MM-dd format (for example, 2024-01-24).
DateFormat:format	Evaluates to the current datetime of the system in the specified format (format). See Sample Date Formats for the available datetime formats
Vault:vaultitem	Evaluates to the value of the specified vault item.

Examples

Some macros, such as %Ext% and %ShortDate%, do not require an argument, but others do. All macros that take an argument use the following syntax: %Macro:argument%

Here are some examples of the macros that take an argument:

• %Header:headername%: Where headername is the name of a header on a message.
• %Header:mycustomheader% resolves to the value of the mycustomheader header set on the input message.
• %Header:ponum% resolves to the value of the ponum header set on the input message.
• %RegexFilename:pattern%: Where pattern is a regex pattern. For example, %RegexFilename:^([\w][A-Za-z]+)% matches and resolves to the first word in the filename and is case insensitive (test_file.xml resolves to test).
• %Vault:vaultitem%: Where vaultitem is the name of an item in the vault. For example, %Vault:companyname% resolves to the value of the companyname item stored in the vault.
• %DateFormat:format%: Where format is an accepted date format (see Sample Date Formats for details). For example, %DateFormat:yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss-fff% resolves to the date and timestamp on the file.

You can also create more sophisticated macros, as shown in the following examples:

• Combining multiple macros in one filename: %DateFormat:yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss-fff%%EXT%
• Including text outside of the macro: MyFile_%DateFormat:yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss-fff%
• Including text within the macro: %DateFormat:'DateProcessed-'yyyy-MM-dd_'TimeProcessed-'HH-mm-ss%