Managing gateway configurations

Gateways manage the transport information used in routing documents to their proper destination in the hub community. The outbound Transport protocol determines which information is used during gateway configuration. For information on creating gateways, see the Hub Configuration Guide.

Viewing and editing gateways

To view and edit gateways, follow these steps:

  1. Click Account Admin > Profiles > Gateways.
  2. Click Online or Offline in the Access column to change the access of a gateway.
  3. Click Enabled or Disabled in the Status column to change the status of a gateway.
  4. Click the icon to view gateway details.
  5. Click the icon.
  6. On the Gateway Detail screen, edit the gateway details that are described in Table 4.
  7. Click Save.

    You can also delete the gateway by clicking Delete.

    Table 4. Gateway detail screen

    Parameter Description

    Gateway Name

    Name used to identify the gateway.

    Note: Gateway Name is a user-defined free format field. While uniqueness is not required, users should use different names for individual gateways to avoid potential confusion.

    Status

    Indicates whether the gateway is enabled or disabled. If disabled, documents passing through the gateway fail processing.

    Online / Offline

    Indicate whether the gateway is online or offline. If offline, documents are queued until the gateway is placed online.

    Description

    Optional description of the gateway.

    Gateway Configuration


    Transport

    Protocol for routing documents (see "Information required for gateway configuration").

    Target URI

    Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the Participant.

    User Name

    User name for secure access through the Participant firewall.

    Password

    Password for secure access through the Participant firewall.

    Retry Count

    Maximum number of times the system tries to send a document before failing it. Default value is 3.

    Retry Interval

    Number of seconds the system pauses before trying to resend a document that was not sent successfully. Default value is 300 (5 minutes).

    Number of Threads

    Number of threads allocated for routing a document. Default value is 3. This parameter is available to Hub Admin users only.

    Validate Client IP

    Validates the IP address of the sending partner before processing the document.

    Validate Client SSL Cert

    Validates the sending Participant's digital certificate against the DUNS number associated with the document before processing the document.

    Auto Queue

    If enabled, documents are placed in a temporary repository if the gateway is placed offline. If disabled and the gateway is placed offline, the document fails to route and an error occurs.

    Authentication Required

    If enabled, user name and password are supplied with JMS or SMTP messages.

    JMS Factory Name

    Name of the Java class the JMS provider will use to generate connection to the JMS queue.

    JMS Message Class

    Class of message.

    JMS Message Type

    Type of JMS message.

    Provider URL Package

    Name of classes or JAR file that Java uses to understand JMS Context URL.

    JMS Queue Name

    Queue name where JMS messages are stored.

    JMS JNDI Factory Name

    Factory name used to connect to the name service.

    Connection Timeout

    Number of seconds a socket will remain open with no traffic. Default value is 120 (2 minutes).

Viewing and editing default gateways

Follow these steps to view default gateways configured for the system and edit them:

  1. Click Account Admin > Profiles > Gateways.
  2. Click View Default Gateways in the upper right corner of the screen. The Console displays a list of all gateway types with their associated gateway.
  3. To view information associated with a default gateway, click the icon next to the gateway .
  4. Edit the information as desired, then click Save.

Deleting gateway configurations

If you no longer need a gateway configuration, use the following procedure to delete it. A precautionary message does not appear before you delete a gateway configuration. Therefore, be sure you do not need the gateway configuration before you delete it.

  1. Click Account Admin > Profiles > Gateways.
  2. Click the icon next to the gateway you want to delete.
  3. Click the icon.
  4. Click Delete.

Deleting transports

If you no longer need a transport, use the following procedure to delete it.

  1. Click Account Admin > Profiles > Gateways.
  2. Select Delete Transport Type.
  3. Select the Transport Type from the Transport drop-down list and click the Delete button.

Transport and gateway retries

When delivery of a document to a Participant gateway fails, Business Integration Connect will attempt to deliver the document again. Each repeated attempt is termed a retry. Retry functionality exists at two different levels within Business Integration Connect: transport and gateway.

  1. Transport Retries

    Transport retries are built-in, low-level retries that are always applied regardless of the gateway specification. The motivation for low-level retries is that transient failures are inherent in the networks over which delivery is attempted, particularly the Internet. Thus, the delivery system is designed to retry automatically without requiring the user to define the retry parameters explicitly. The number of transport retries (bcg.delivery.gwTransportMaxRetries) and the time interval between retries (bcg.delivery.gwTransportRetryInterval) are defined in the document manager BCG.Properties file and apply to all gateways. The default values are three retries at three second intervals.

  2. Gateway Retries (also known as document retries)

    Gateway retry parameters (number of retries allowed and interval between retries) are configured by the user in the gateway properties. Usually the retry interval is much longer than the built-in transport retries described above. The intent is to allow sufficient time for the user to correct the problem that is preventing delivery. For example, the destination Web server might be down, or the destination URL might be incorrect. Setting the parameter values requires some judgment from the user on what is reasonable for each particular gateway.

For each gateway retry (user defined), Business Integration Connect will automatically perform the transport retries. For example, if three gateway retries are specified, the system retry pattern is:

First attempt fails

Transport retry 0 fails
Transport retry 1 fails
Transport retry 2 fails

Gateway retry 1 fails

Transport retry 0 fails
Transport retry 1 fails
Transport retry 2 fails

Gateway retry 2 fails

Transport retry 0 fails
Transport retry 1 fails
Transport retry 2 fails

Gateway retry 3 fails

Document fails delivery

Every failed delivery attempt will generate a warning event that is visible in Community Console.

Information required for gateway configuration

The transport type selected determines the information needed for gateway setup. The boxes marked with an X require configuration information, boxes marked with the letter O are optional.

Note:
The ability to edit certain gateway configuration values varies with the permission level of the user.

Transport HTTP HTTPS FTP FTPS JMS File Directory SMTP

Target URI

X

X

X

X


X

X

User Name

O

O

O O

O

O

O

Password

O

O

O O

O

O

O

Retry Count

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Retry Interval

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Number of Threads

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Validate Client IP

O

O

O

O




Validate Client SSL Cert


O






Auto Queue

O

O

O

O

O


O

Authentication Required





O


O

JMS Factory Name





X



JMS Message Class





X



JMS Message Type





O



Provider URL Package





O



JMS Queue Name





X



JMS JNDI Factory Name





X



Connection Timeout

X

X

X





Notes:

  1. When a gateway's Authentication Required option is on, and the User Name and Password are provided, the gateway will pass the User Name and Password to the non-WebSphere Business Integration Connect external system that it connects to for document delivery. The gateway does not enforce authentication, it simply passes these authentication credentials to the system that it is trying to connect to. For a JMS gateway, the User Name and Password are used as the credentials for JNDI look up of the JMS Queue Connection Factory. Note that JMS over Websphere MQ does not enforce JNDI authentication when file-based JNDI is used to connect to a JMS queue.

  2. Username and password are required for FTPS authentication unless the FTPS server you are negotiating with is mapping the user, based on a presented client certificate. Check with the FTPS server administrator for implementation details.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2003, 2004