XI cannot pick files from R/3 FTP folder if the file count is more than 550.

[Former Member]

Hi,

There is a SAP R/3 program that generates files and place them in FTP Unix server under the ftp folder. SAP XI system is supposed to pick these files from FTP folder. When the number of files in the FTP folder exceeds 550 at a time, XI is not able to pick them at all.

But when we move these 550 files from SAPERP to another Windows Server (172.23.251.120-casinst.svc.belgium) and try to pick them through XI, it works fine.

The sender channel has been configured properly,

The issue is why XI cannot pick files from R/3 FTP folder if the file count is more than 550.

Can anybody help me regarding the above issue?

Thanks,

Sowmya

[Former Member]

what error you are getting at all places (rwb,nwa,log-trace files)???

[Former Member]

Hi,

We do not get any error.

The files remain without being picked up by XI in the source directory.

Regards,

Sowmya

[Former Member]

Hi Sowmya,

You can test this from your command prompt. FTP to the Unix location and target directory and issue a list command while still in FTP mode in your command prompt and see the result.

If it returns an 'arg list too long' type of error then you know the limitation is on the Unix FTP server side. this limitation seems to vary depepnding on the flavour of Unix being used.

You can also refer to SAP Note 821267 (point number 27) for how the SAP PI FTP works (i.e. see statement regarding directory listing NLST and LIST).

You could also explore different options to narrow down the list that is returned, e.g. using different sender channels with different patterns (I'm not sure if this is an option for you)?

Regards, Trevor

[Former Member]

Hi Naidoo,

Our FTP vendor has confirmed that there is not limitation on FTP server.

They have also tried listing the files manually using both LIST(ls, ls -l) and NLIST commands and it has worked fine.

The commnads have listed all the files present in the directory.

Regards,

Sowmya

[Former Member]

Hi Sowmya,

The issue needs to be re/created while in FTP mode. If the FTP Vendor issues the command at OS level from their side then it should work fine. It can behave differently while in FTP mode.

If all works fine on PI until you hit the 550 mark, I would try the following...

- replicate a test from PI using another FTP server / site, or you can use the free FileZilla Server software locally on your PC connected to the network. If > 550 test works here then it might start looking like a limitation set on the FTP Vendor side.

- Seek some assistance from you PI Basis colleague. Basis colleague to issue an FTP connect to this server from OS level on your PI box. While in FTP mode, issue the list command (as you have defined it in your sender channel - with file pattern that you may be using) and see the result.

That should take you one step closer to the problem. If there genuinely a limitation set on the FTP Vendor side (which is not that unusual and is a configurable parameter), I don't think you will necessarily get an error message back, hence you 'might' not notice any error on PI (monitoring, log, traces, etc.)

Regards, Trevor

[Former Member]

Hi Trevor,

With the help of Basis, we connected to ftp server on PI development box.

In that mode, basis tried listing with both 'ls' and 'ls -ltr' commands and it worked fine.

There were 1105 files in the directory.

All files were listed with above commands as well as with 'nlist' command.

We got the list of the files and in the end we got the line as:

226 Transfer complete.

Thanks and Regards,

Sowmya