Troubleshooting

Nobody likes technical issues, we get that. But we’re here to help.

Before we get too deep in technical issues, here’s some of the simple troubleshooting tips.

Simple Troubleshooting and FAQs

The major challenge you may encounter is that file acceleration requires UDP access to the network and this results in 90% + of client-side network issues. A second issue is user level permissions versus admin level permissions on operating systems. These are issues that need to be addressed from a security point from your own network. We can help assist through this, but it really comes down to your IT security settings and some simple changes that need top be made for high speed file transfers.

1) Why am I seeing “Attempt to connect to server failed” in a red popup using the transfer agent web client?

Chances are you’ve got your ports blocked. You need to make sure the following ports are opened. This may require the assistance of your network administrator.

Port 21 for TCP.
Port range 8000-8999 for TCP and UDP.
 
Some firewalls and NAT devices require setting up 2 separate rules and others allow you to specify TCP and UDP. These ports are used to transfer the Data to and from the FileCatalyst Server and is commonly referred to as the Data Channel.

2) TransferAgent is unable to open web pages from the tray menu; what is going on?

It is possible that TransferAgent may not have the correct permissions to open a web page on the system. Try restarting TransferAgent under a higher permission setting and then attempt to open the page through the tray menu. If the problem persists, close all open web browsers and try again. This may require the assistance of your network administrator.

3) Why am I seeing an “UnsupportedClassVersionError?”

You are likely trying to run with an unsupported version of Java. FileCatalyst products require a minimum version of Java 1.8.

4) Why am I seeing “FCException An Error Has Occurred” in a red popup using the transfer agent web client?

It could be that you are using a non alpha-numeric character in your subject line or email message.  For example, using a pipe | symbol in the subject line can trigger this error.

Advanced Troubleshooting

a) Default Log Locations

In case of any problems with the TransferAgent, please examine the TransferAgent logs, which can provide help in identifying issues:

Windows

C:\Program Files (x86)\FileCatalyst TransferAgent\logs

OR

C:\Program Files\FileCatalyst TransferAgent\logs

depending on whether you use a 32 or 64 bit operating system.

Mac OSX

/Users/{USERNAME}/Library/Application Support/FileCatalyst/TransferAgent/logs

which is only accessible via Terminal.

Linux

{INSTALLATION_ROOT}/logs

This default location is always the default log location for the TransferAgent when installed on Linux.

b) Transfer related issues

If you experience a file transfer related issue, such as connectivity or file transfers errors, please contact the administrator of the web application. In other words, the organization who owns the site which is providing the Web UI.

c) Installation issues

If there is an installation problem with the TransferAgent, open a trouble ticket directly with FileCatalyst at support.filecatalyst.com

d) Windows mapped network drive

Windows machines which have mapped network drives may not being visible to the TransferAgent due to Microsoft’s implementation of User Access Control (UAC) starting with Windows Vista.

There are examples online on how to disable this or set the system to allow drives to be visible to services.

To implement a workaround:

  1. Unzip the file enablelinkedconnections.zip in the application directory (C:\Program Files\FileCatalyst TransferAgent\)
  2. Run the registry entry enablelinkedconnections.reg to enable the TransferAgent to see mapped network drives.
  3. A reboot will be required for this to take effect
  4. To uninstall, run the undo.reg the same way as enablelinkedconnections.reg, a restart is also required on uninstall

e) Deploying FileCatalyst on your own network

Interested in putting FileCatalyst to work for your own organization? We have a solution for almost any file transfer workflow. Please contact FileCatalyst at http://www.filecatalyst.com/trial

f) System Properties

Used for debugging purposes to set advanced system properties. Please contact support before attempting to use these features. They must be set in the TransferAgent’s config file.

TransferAgent will require a restart for these values to take effect.

g) SSL Cipher Restrictions

FileCatalyst TransferAgent allows the selection of specific SSL ciphers which are considered appropriate for encrypted communication. By default, the entire Java SSL/TLS set is utilized. To modify the default values (example: enforce a minimum 128-bit encryption cipher), manual configurations may applied to fcta.conf.

The following steps illustrate how to configure so that only strong ciphers are utilized:

  1. Shutdown FileCatalyst TransferAgent: As this is a manual fcta.conf file modification, the TransferAgent must be shutdown before changes can be made to the server.
  2. Restrict the Cipher List: The following lines should be added onto the fcta.conf file to restrict ciphers:
    ## SSL Cipher restriction
# By default, accepted SSL ciphers are specified as part of the standard Java JRE.
# These can be modified to exclude less secure ciphers.
FC.TransferAgent.config.ssl.restrict.ciphers=true
  3. Restart the TransferAgent & Verify Logs for Supported Ciphers: Because there is no specific cipher list defined yet in fcta.conf, the TransferAgent will recognize the lack of allowed encryption algorithm and immediately shut down. By examining the TransferAgent logs, the complete list of supported ciphers for the platform is listed. The following is an example:
    Mon Sep 21 14:32:07 EDT 2009 - System: Windows XP 5.1 x86 - Java(tm) 1.8.0_1
Mon Sep 21 14:32:07 EDT 2009 - Initializing SSL Administrative Socket on port 12400
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - No ciphers listed are currently supported by the JVM. Please revise the
  allowable ciphers in the configuration.
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (0) SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (1) SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (2) TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (3) TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (4) TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (5) SSL_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (6) SSL_DHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (7) SSL_DHE_DSS_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (8) SSL_RSA_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (9) SSL_DHE_RSA_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (10) SSL_DHE_DSS_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (11) SSL_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (12) SSL_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_DES40_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (13) SSL_DHE_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_DES40_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (14) SSL_DHE_DSS_EXPORT_WITH_DES40_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (15) SSL_RSA_WITH_NULL_MD5
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (16) SSL_RSA_WITH_NULL_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (17) SSL_DH_anon_WITH_RC4_128_MD5
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (18) TLS_DH_anon_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (19) SSL_DH_anon_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (20) SSL_DH_anon_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (21) SSL_DH_anon_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (22) SSL_DH_anon_EXPORT_WITH_DES40_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (23) TLS_KRB5_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (24) TLS_KRB5_WITH_RC4_128_MD5
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (25) TLS_KRB5_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (26) TLS_KRB5_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_MD5
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (27) TLS_KRB5_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (28) TLS_KRB5_WITH_DES_CBC_MD5
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (29) TLS_KRB5_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (30) TLS_KRB5_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (31) TLS_KRB5_EXPORT_WITH_DES_CBC_40_SHA
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - Available SSL cipher supported by JVM: (32) TLS_KRB5_EXPORT_WITH_DES_CBC_40_MD5
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - null
Mon Sep 21 14:32:08 EDT 2009 - TransferAgent shutting down
  4. Enable Cipher List on the TransferAgent: There are multiple on-line forums describing the exact makeup of each cipher. In the case where only strong ciphers are required (encryption levels >= 128 bit), the following lines are entered into fcta.conf. Only these specific ciphers will be used by the application server socket. If clients connecting does not have a match, the connection will be logged and dropped.
    # If the restrict.cipher == true, you must supply a list of acceptable ciphers
# the application can utilize when opening up SSL server sockets.
# Each cipher listed should have a unique number assigned (start with ".00"), with the preferred
# cipher set to the lowest numerical value.
FC.TransferAgent.config.ssl.allowed.ciphers.00=SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5
FC.TransferAgent.config.ssl.allowed.ciphers.01=SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
FC.TransferAgent.config.ssl.allowed.ciphers.02=TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
FC.TransferAgent.config.ssl.allowed.ciphers.03=TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
FC.TransferAgent.config.ssl.allowed.ciphers.04=TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
FC.TransferAgent.config.ssl.allowed.ciphers.05=SSL_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
FC.TransferAgent.config.ssl.allowed.ciphers.06=SSL_DHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
FC.TransferAgent.config.ssl.allowed.ciphers.07=SSL_DHE_DSS_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
  5. Restart the TransferAgent and Verify TransferAgent Logs If SSL ciphers are restricted, server logs provide a list of ciphers enabled.
    Mon Sep 21 15:23:44 EDT 2009 - Initializing SSL Administrative Socket on port 12680
Mon Sep 21 15:23:45 EDT 2009 - SSL ciphers restricted by configuration.
Mon Sep 21 15:23:45 EDT 2009 - SSL cipher enabled: (0) SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5
Mon Sep 21 15:23:45 EDT 2009 - SSL cipher enabled: (1) SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
Mon Sep 21 15:23:45 EDT 2009 - SSL cipher enabled: (2) TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 15:23:45 EDT 2009 - SSL cipher enabled: (3) TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 15:23:45 EDT 2009 - SSL cipher enabled: (4) TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 15:23:45 EDT 2009 - SSL cipher enabled: (5) SSL_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 15:23:45 EDT 2009 - SSL cipher enabled: (6) SSL_DHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
Mon Sep 21 15:23:45 EDT 2009 - SSL cipher enabled: (7) SSL_DHE_DSS_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA