Persistent connectivity

SSH, Kerberized SSH2, Telnet, SCP, FTP, SFTP, and Session-based CLI adapters permit a connection to persist for multiple requests across processes. A connection is named when established, and subsequent requests can then specify this named connection. The connection is available to a request for reuse till it either expires based on the value specified in the <connection-ttl> element, or is terminated with a <terminate-on-exit> element.

The named connection is defined in an adapter request in the <target> block by using a <connection> block that contains a <name> tag and a <terminate-on-exit> tag. The <name> tag is required. The <terminate-on-exit> tag is optional, and its default value is false, maintaining the connection. The SSH, SCP, FTP, and SFTP adapters also contain a <connection-ttl> element that specifies the time (in seconds) for which a named connection should persist.

The named connection is an optional function. If there is no <connection> block, the connection opens and closes in the request and must be reopened for each subsequent request of that target.

Note

Because named connections are used across processes, concurrent jobs can access a named connection concurrently. Requests with the same connection name are queued and will be processed sequentially. Also, named connections cannot be shared across multiple peers.

The following figure shows an XML sample of a named connection used in conjunction with a dynamic target. This connection terminates on completion of the request.

XML sample of a named connection used in conjunction with a dynamic target

... <target>
         <host>sample.target1.com</host>
         <port>23</port>
         <user\-name>user1</user\-name>
         <password>pass1</password>
         <prompt>user1$</prompt>
         <connection>
           <name>target1_connection</name>
           <connection-ttl>xx</connection-ttl>
           <terminate-on-exit>true</terminate-on-exit>
         </connection>
</target>
...

When using a named connection with a dynamic target, you must define the dynamic target completely in each request. You cannot reference it as a name attribute with the <target> in subsequent requests. Only targets defined in the adapter configuration can be referenced with a name attribute in an adapter request.

The following figure shows an XML sample of a named connection used in conjunction with a target name reference from the adapter configuration. In the absence of the <terminate-on-exit> element, this connection remains open on completion of the request.

XML sample of a named connection in conjunction with a target name reference

... 
<target name="target2"> 
  <connection> 
    <name>target2_connection</name> 
  </connection>
</target>
...

Each subsequent request that uses a named connection is configured in the same manner, with either a complete dynamic target or a target name reference to the adapter configuration that contains a <connection> block. The connection is reused if open, or reestablished if it has been closed.

Persistent connectivity

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