With so many features available through GoAnywhere MFT, you're bound to have questions as you get started. Our forums for GoAnywhere users have resources from support staff and users themselves across all industries. Read some of the most popular Q&As below:
Getting Started & General Information
1. How do I Debug a Project?
Using the debug options helps correctly identify the root of the problem on a failing project. Here, our support analysts offer three ways to get started:
Set the Log Level to Debug
This method gathers the most information available within your generated job log. To change this setting, click the "P" on the main project task at the top of the project outline. From there, go to the Control section and, under Log Level, change this to debug log level.
Use the Project Designer Debug Button
At the top of your Project Designer, use the Debug button. This will step through each of the tasks within your project outline and is especially helpful when working through project logic.
Use the Print Task
In the Miscellaneous section of the Component Library, select the print task. This allows you to view the values of variables within your project and determine whether they contain the correct information for your project.
2. How do I Renew a Certificate?
An expiration date must be set for SSL certificates when they are initially created – when the certificate reaches that expiration date you are required to either renew the certificate or create a new one. GoAnywhere can help you simplify this process: you can generate a CSR for the expired certificate and send it directly to your signee. Once your signee sends you back a CA reply, you can import it back into the certificate to update the expiration date.
Alternatively, if you create a new certificate rather than renewing, you can follow this same process after the new certificate has been created.
3. How do I Access the GoAnywhere Logs?
The GoAnywhere logs can be useful for troubleshooting a variety of issues you may encounter. All the logs can be viewed within GoAnywhere by navigating to the section Logs → Log Settings. You can also find the log files themselves within the GoAnywhere directory. By default, the goanywhere.log file is stored in the [install dir]/userdata/logs directory and it is a great first place to check when troubleshooting. This log contains comprehensive information about nearly everything related to the GoAnywhere MFT application.
Additionally, MFT offers detailed service audit logs to help track activity on your hosted services and to troubleshoot connection issues to your service. The various service logs can be located by navigating to Logs → Audit Logs → [selecting your desired service].
4. Should I Use System Alerts?
System alerts are a great tool for notifying the right people when specific tasks occur within GoAnywhere MFT. System Alerts uses the global SMTP setting to send emails directly to the appropriate recipients. When system alerts are enabled, you can configure GoAnywhere to email roles including Product Administrators, Web User Managers, Key Managers, and Trigger Managers:
| Role | Top System Alerts |
|---|---|
| Product Administrators | System started or shut down Memory approaching a set threshold GoAnywhere license is set to expire Changes made to a GoAnywhere Cluster |
| Web User Managers | Web User deactivated |
| Key Managers | Certificates set to expire PGP keys set to expire |
| Trigger Managers | Trigger Failure |
5. Should I Use an Externalized Database?
GoAnywhere includes a default derby database which is a great tool for both initial setup and trial purposes. However, there are some limitations with this database, and we advise choosing an externalized database for GoAnywhere MFT once you’ve finished setting up the product. By externalizing you will receive greater performance and functionality within product. Luckily it is simple to switch databases! The built-in Switch Database Wizard walks you through moving to your new database step by step.
Common Error Messages You May See & How to Solve Them
1. How to Resolve Failed Network Shares
When working with network shares to a DFS location you can encounter an issue where the job fails intermittently. There are a couple different ways to improve the performance of your connection in this scenario:
- The best option is always to use the native path method as this utilizes the native operating systems SMB client, which allows for the greatest stability and performance.
- If the native path method is not an option, we advise that you implement a priority name space. This is done within the DFS configuration and is outlined by these Microsoft articles:
2. What to do If GoAnywhere is Failing to Start
While it’s rare, if you encounter an issue when bringing up the MFT service or subsystem, you can check a couple places to get to the bottom your issue. If the GoAnywhere service is failing to start, the first place to look is the Tomcat logs. If no errors are found in the Tomcat logs, and you see the following logged event in the Catalina.out log (stdout.log for windows) "Initializing global log file '[globalLogLocation]\GoAnywhere\userdata\logs\goanywhere.log'" then check the GoAnywhere log location. In the scenario where you are in a Clustered setup you will want to view the node specific log.
3. How to Resolve a Failed to Bind Error
If you see the "failed to bind" error in your logs when starting MFT or Gateway, this indicates that either the port is already in use by another application or it’s a privileged port that the user does not have access to. The netstat command can help you determine what other application is using the required port. If it’s a privileged port (like on Linux/Unix systems), a port above 1024 must be used with a non-root account.
4. Why is My SSL Handshake Failing?
A common error to receive on your resources is the SSL handshake error. This indicates that the host and client were unable to negotiate on the desired method of connection. There are three things to check that can resolve the SSL handshake and allow you to connect to your host:
- Determine whether you’ve been using the correct ciphers for your trading partner. You can configure these within your resource.
- Along this same vein, determine whether the TLS version you have specified is compatible with the host. Most hosts are now using TLSv1.2 as the standard protocol for their service.
- Lastly, the host may require that you export their head certificate and import it into GoAnywhere so that the connection will be trusted.
5. Why did the PKIX Path Building Fail?
If you receive a "PKIX path building failed" error on a connection, this indicates that the server you are connecting to does not trust your client. In order to properly connect, import the host certificates into your KMS cert or File Base keys trusted store. This allows the host to trust the connection through the imported certificate.
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