Henrik, and anybody else reading out there,

I did a search for "FTP" on the forum, and didn't find anything like the problem I am having, so I'm posting it. If anyone has had this problem, care to share how you worked around it? :-)

Here goes: I am trying to download some files from an FTP site. I believe it is running on z/OS or some other mainframe-era platform, as it the "HELP" command returns things about MVS and HFS file names.

After connecting to the site, I try a "Download" task with the following settings:
Directory = 'KINP.MR14402'
File mask = *

I am expecting to get one file named G3603V00 out of that file mask, the most current generation of that dataset. Instead, I get a big ugly error:
Error (5) downloading file(s): Volume Unit Referred Ext Used Recfm Lrecl BlkSz Dsorg Dsname, err: Name length error for pathname Volume Unit Referred Ext Used Recfm Lrecl BlkSz Dsorg Dsname (reply code 550)

I turned on in/out logging, and this is the last part of what the task output is, the commands sent to the ftp server:
PWD
"'KINP.MR14402.'" is working directory.
TYPE A
Representation type is Ascii NonPrint
PASV
Entering Passive Mode (155,109,247,5,5,74)
LIST
List started OK
List completed successfully.
TYPE A
Representation type is Ascii NonPrint
PASV
Entering Passive Mode (155,109,247,5,5,75)
LIST
List started OK
List completed successfully.
TYPE I
Representation type is Image
PASV
Entering Passive Mode (155,109,247,5,5,76)
RETR Volume Unit Referred Ext Used Recfm Lrecl BlkSz Dsorg Dsname
Name length error for pathname Volume Unit Referred Ext Used Recfm Lrecl BlkSz Dsorg Dsname
QUIT

My guess is the LIST command is somehow not returning what VisualCron expects it to return in order to understand the file mask *? I have also tried putting in the actual file name as the file mask, but still no luck.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks,
A very frustrated Mike

Have you tried option "Use raw listing fallback" in Download settings?

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Yes, I've tried just about every combination of options and file masks, directories, you name it. Here is the output from the LIST command in the 'KINP.MR14402.' directory, using another FTP client:

Listing: Volume Unit Referred Ext Used Recfm Lrecl BlkSz Dsorg Dsname
Listing: PRD91E 3390 2008/06/11 1 1 FBA 133 27930 PS G3604V00

The file I want today is G3604V00.

I do believe that that protocol is verify specific and non-standard. However, if you send us a mail to support@visualcron.com with login information we can try to debug it from there.

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We have to upload a file to an external FTP server that appears to be similar - it has a dataset name, and we have to use a custom command before we upload it. I don't know if the same things will apply to a download from a similiar system, or not.

For the upload, we have to:

a) Use a custom command to provide information on the format of the data - this is just an example that we use with this particular site, and it will depend on the particular data requirements in your case.

site lrecl=100 recfm=fb primary=32 secondary=15

This site provides additional information on the meaning of the parameters - http://appl010.lsu.edu/o...E62005E4FA4?OpenDocument 

b) We have to enclose both the file mask and the destination folder in single quotes.

I've come upon this same problem.
Where do you put the site information in VisualCron?

I've come upon this same problem.
Where do you put the site information in VisualCron?

What do you mean by "put the site information in VisualCron"?

If you have a problem with VisualCron cannot parse ftp rows then you should see that in the real time log file. Do you see any error there?

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We have to upload a file to an external FTP server that appears to be similar - it has a dataset name, and we have to use a custom command before we upload it. I don't know if the same things will apply to a download from a similiar system, or not.

For the upload, we have to:

a) Use a custom command to provide information on the format of the data - this is just an example that we use with this particular site, and it will depend on the particular data requirements in your case.

site lrecl=100 recfm=fb primary=32 secondary=15

This site provides additional information on the meaning of the parameters - http://appl010.lsu.edu/o...E62005E4FA4?OpenDocument 

b) We have to enclose both the file mask and the destination folder in single quotes.

I was referring to lal's post.
I would like to know if I can download directly from a mainframe running z/os.
the poster mentioned sending a custom command using 'site lrecl...'. I was wondering if VC can do that.

You should be able to download from zOS. But I do not think you need to use custom command for that. If download does not work out of the box then we can look at your logs. Sometimes we have to create custom implementation of parsing.

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I have encountered a similar issue.
The ftp server I am attempting to STOR a file requires routing parameters (see below for example)

quote routing to=PRIMREV,from=PRIMEREV,doctype=INVOICE,format=ENCRYPTED,version=1.0;

I can execute this using a custom command; however, I am unable to issue a STOR command in the same task. How can I issue the custom command PRIOR to executing the UPLOAD task?