THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE APPLIES TO:
EFT v8.0 and later store Advanced Properties in a JSON file. When you upgrade from EFT v7.4.x to EFT v8, the non-default settings that you have defined in the registry will be added to the Advanced Properties file during upgrade. (Default settings become part of the EFT configuration files.) For a more on how to use advanced properties, and a spreadsheet of the advanced properties, please refer to the "Advanced Properties" topic in the help for your version of EFT.
SYMPTOM
Clients uploading thousands of files/folders to EFT can be adversely affect the performance and stability of the server.
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Low impact - Clients begin to experience sluggish response times (slow listings, client takes a while to load, etc).
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Moderate impact - The large directories and listings cause an impact in the File System I/O and/or consume excess network utilization.
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High Impact - Repeat listings of large directories are requested faster than EFT can respond, causing high memory consumption and crashing
WORKAROUND
EFT's File System logging is configurable so that a WARN-level log can be written if the number of files/folders in a listing exceeds a certain threshold. This threshold is configurable via an advanced property.
In EFT v8 and later:
Add the name:value pair to the AdvancedProperties.JSON file in EFT's \ProgramData\ directory as described in the "Advanced Properties" topic in the online help for your version of EFT.
{
"FileSystemItemThreshold": number of files/folders
}
(5000 is the default; specify more or less depending on performance issue)
In versions prior to v8.0:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\GlobalSCAPE Inc.\EFT Server 7.4\
Type: DWORD
Value name: FileSystemItemThreshold
Default Value: 5000
Cached: yes
Backup/Restore: yes
MORE INFORMATION
Beginning in EFT v7.2.8, new File System logging was introduced to track numerous file system operations, such as:
Operation: "CheckPermissions"
Operation: "FolderExists"
Operation: "GetFolderListing"
Operation: "GetListingEntry"
Operation: "GetRealPath"
Operation: "GetFileSize"
Operation: "LockFile"
Operation: "OpenFile"
Operation: "UnlockFile"
This logging is helpful in diagnosing many types of issues and can help identify and resolve issues related to lock/unlock operations that are causing unresponsive servers. Because EFT is capturing the number of items in the listing, EFT can use this information to preemptively WARN the admin of large listings before they become a larger problem.