Troubleshooting Files.com Agent Issues

Most of the time, Files.com Agent connection issues are caused by one of the following things:

• Incorrect configuration of the Agent
• System that the Agent is installed on is offline or powered off

The only component of the configuration file that needs to be updated is the value for "root".

Check that the Agent's configuration file has no typos or syntax errors. The file must contain valid JSON syntax, where all values are enclosed in double-quotes.

The most common JSON syntax error is using Windows slashes instead of Linux slashes in folder paths. When setting the root value, use Linux slashes (preferred: C:/path/to/folder) or use double Windows slashes (valid "escaped" alternative: C:\\path\\to\\folder).

For example, a correctly configured "root" setting should look like this:

"root":"C:/Users/Agent"

If you try to start the Agent without configuring the "root" setting of the configuration file then you'll see an output message like this:

root is missing from config. {"root": "/path/to/root"} - /path/to/files_agent_config.json

Edit the configuration file, set the "root" value, and then re-start the Agent.

Ensure that the system that the Agent is installed on is powered on and online. When the system is down or offline then you may see the following effects:

• Remote Mount folders will not function.
• Remote Sync will temporarily fail.

If the system, and Agent, cannot be reached then any Remote Mount folders will not be accessible and cannot be interacted with by users or Automations.

If the system, and Agent, cannot be reached then any Remote Sync will fail until the Agent is accessible again. Once the Agent is accessible again, subsequent syncs will then resume and succeed.

When starting the Agent, you may see the following warning message about failing to increase the receive buffer size:

2024/02/16 17:19:13 failed to sufficiently increase receive buffer size (was: 208 kiB, wanted: 2048 kiB, got: 416 kiB). See https://github.com/quic-go/quic-go/wiki/UDP-Buffer-Sizes for details.

This message is for information only and does not affect the Agent. This message occurs when the Agent is trying to establish the fastest possible UDP connection but the operating system can only provide a lower, yet still fast, speed.

Always run the Agent manually first, to check functionality and connectivity, prior to installing it as a system service. If the Agent works when run manually, but does not when run as a system service, then compare the permissions between the account that was used to manually run the agent and system service account.

Check the Agent status, as shown in the Remote Server entry for your Agent. When the Agent sends a heartbeat back to Files.com then this status will change from "Waiting for connection..." to "Connected." The "Connected" status confirms that the Agent has been able to "call home" and connect back to your Files.com site through your firewall.

When the Agent is shut down normally, such as by using CTRL+C when running the Agent manually or by shutting down or rebooting the system when the Agent is running as a system Service, the Agent status will change back to "Waiting for connection...".