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File Arrival

Theme: Overview
Who Is It For? Automation Engineer

What is it?​

The Windows Agent includes components that support the File Arrival job type. File Arrival jobs monitor a file system location and hold downstream processing until a file matching the defined criteria arrives. This eliminates the need for polling loops or fixed-time scheduling when file delivery times are variable.

  • Monitor for files by exact name, wildcard pattern, or UNC path
  • Verify that a file's size is stable for a defined period before reporting arrival
  • Trigger downstream jobs only after the file is confirmed as fully written

When to use​

  • When downstream jobs depend on files delivered by external systems or upstream batch processes with unpredictable delivery windows.
  • When you need to verify that a file has finished writing before allowing dependent jobs to process it.
  • When file names follow a pattern that varies by date or other dynamic values and cannot be specified exactly in advance.

Benefits​

  • Removes the need for custom polling scripts or time-padded schedules around file deliveries.
  • Prevents premature processing by confirming file stability — via size check — before releasing dependent jobs.

Glossary​

SMAFilewatcher.exe — The Windows Agent component responsible for monitoring file system locations for the File Arrival job type.

Stable time — The period a file must remain unchanged in size before File Arrival considers it fully written and reports successful arrival. SMAFilewatcher.exe is the main program responsible for file-watching functions. Supported File Arrival features include:

  • Watching for a specific file name, a file name with wildcards, or a UNC path name
  • Watching sub-directories
  • Watching for a file's creation stamp to be within a specific time frame
  • Watching for a file's size to be stable for a specific amount of time before reporting the file's successful arrival
  • Using tokens for the time frame and stable time
  • Defining advanced failure criteria

For information on creating File Arrival jobs, refer to Defining Job Action: File Arrival Job Details in the Enterprise Manager online help.