Re: How to COPY (not transfer) a file on a remote server using FTP

On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 6:09 PM, CRPence <CRPbottle@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 08-Dec-2011 13:33 , Dan wrote:

<<SNIP>> 550 The process cannot access the file because it is being
used by another process.
<<SNIP>> The application that updates the text file is done by 11pm.
I can GET all log files except the one created most recently. This
tells me that the process that updates the text file still has it
locked, even 12 hours later. PLEASE NOTE: I have no control over the
application on the server that is locking the file. So, I am looking
for a workaround.

So the application [on the server] that updates the file is not
always done by 11pm.?

It is "done" processing data no later than 11pm, the results for which are
output to the text file. However, it is my understanding the the
application remains in memory, waiting for the next batch of data to
process, which won't happen again until the following night at 9pm. For
reasons I can't explain, the application closes the text file it created 24
hours ago, and creates a new text file. Before we were having this
problem, I believed that the text file was closed after the processing was
"done". But the software vendor said that has never been the case, and that
a Windows patch likely changed the behavior whereby FTP GET would no longer
transfer a file that is still opened by some other process.

<<SNIP>>
So, I *think* my workaround solution is to change the FTP script to
first copy the file on the server to a new file. I have attempted
using QUOTE and SITE with various parameters to issue the command:
xcopy process.20111207210003.448.txt DanTemp.txt
but I'm getting nothing but errors (500 "command not understood")

To determine what the server will accept, review output from the
request to: QUOTE HELP

QUOTE HELP returns a list of mostly 4-character commands, none of which
seem to help me accomplish what I'm trying to do. This exercise reminds me
of when we have FTP scripts on our PC to run commands on the i:
QUOTE RCMD CALL PGMA PARM( SOMETHING )
So, I used FTP on my PC to open a connection on our i, and used QUOTE
HELP. Sure enough, there's RCMD in the list of commands. Then I used
QUOTE HELP RCMD and I see the syntax. I need that RCMD on the Windows
server!

So, it looks like I'm S.O.L. as far as running a Windows command like XCOPY
on the server. I might give a shout to our Server Ops to see if there's a
setting they can change on the server that allows an FTP GET to work on an
open file. This *was* the working behavior up until a few months ago.

My perception is... The wrong question [i.e. the subject] is being asked.

<<SNIP>>

John correctly responded to this.

Thanks for helping me see the light, Chuck!
- Dan