Steps to save a file as a named pipe in the z/OS FTP client UNIX file system

Before you begin

You must start an application that can read from the named pipe, and it must open the named pipe, before FTP can transfer data into the named pipe.

Procedure

Do one of the following to set the UNIXFILETYPE FIFO value at the client host:
- Code a UNIXFILETYPE statement in the client FTP.DATA file before starting the FTP daemon. See the UNIXFILETYPE (FTP client and server) statement information in z/OS Communications Server: IP Configuration Reference for more details about the UNIXFILETYPE statement.
- Issue a LOCSIte subcommand with the UNIXFILETYPE parameter after starting the FTP client. See LOCSIte subcommand—Specify site information to the local host for more information about the LOCSIte subcommand.
Do one of the following to set the FILETYPE=SEQ value at the client host:
- Code the FILETYPE statement in the client FTP.DATA file before you start the FTP client. See the FILETYPE (FTP client and server) statement information in z/OS Communications Server: IP Configuration Reference for more details about the FILETYPE statement.
- Issue the LOCSIte subcommand with the FILEtype parameter after starting the client. See LOCSIte subcommand—Specify site information to the local host for more information about the LOCSIte subcommand.
  Tip: FILETYPE=SEQ is the default value for FILETYPE. You can issue the locstat filetype subcommand from the z/OS® FTP client to determine whether you need to reset the FILETYPE value:
Optional: Do one of the following to set the FIFOOPENTIME and FIFOIOTIME values at the client:
- Code the FIFOOPENTIME and FIFOIOTIME statements in the client FTP.DATA file before you start the FTP daemon. See z/OS Communications Server: IP Configuration Reference for more information about the FIFOOPENTIME and FIFOIOTIME statements.
- Issue a LOCSIte subcommand with the FIFOOPENTIME and FIFOIOTIME configuration options after you start the client. See LOCSIte subcommand—Specify site information to the local host for more information about the LOCSIte subcommand.
The FTP client uses default values for FIFOOPENTIME and FIFOIOTIME parameters if you do not configure these values explicitly.
On the FTP client host, start the process that reads from the named pipe.
Use the Get subcommand to transfer a file from the client to the server, specifying a target file in the z/OS UNIX file system. For example, get local_named_pipe remote_file.

Results

You know that you have completed these steps correctly when the following events occur:

The client receives reply 226 or 250 from the server, which indicates that the server sent the file.
The client issues message EZA2536I or EZA1617I to indicate the total number of bytes that it received.

Tips:

You do not need to create the named pipe with FTP before you initiate the transfer. FTP creates the named pipe during file transfer if the named pipe is not already in the file system. However, FTP is not able to transfer data into a named pipe that it creates until another process on the FTP client host opens the named pipe for reading.
If the FTP client creates the named pipe for you, the configured umask value determines the file permissions. See the UMASK parameter information in LOCSIte subcommand—Specify site information to the local host, or the UMASK (FTP client and server) statement information in z/OS Communications Server: IP Configuration Reference for more details about the UMASK statement.