Setting up gateways for the participants

WebSphere Business Integration Connect uses gateways to route documents to their proper destination. The outbound transport protocol determines which information is used during gateway configuration.

Transports supported (by default) for participant gateways include the following:

You can also specify a user-defined transport, which you upload during the creation of the gateway.

As the Hub Admin, you can set up the gateways for your participants, or the participants can perform this task themselves. In this chapter, you will see how to perform the task for the participants.

Creating gateways

To create gateways, use the following procedure.

  1. Click Account Admin > Profiles > Community Participant.
  2. Enter search criteria and click Search, or click Search without entering any search criteria to display a list of all participants.
  3. Click the magnifying glass icon to display the participant's profile.
  4. Click Gateways.
  5. Click Create. The Console displays the Gateway Detail screen.
  6. If you want to upload a user-defined transport, perform the following steps. Otherwise, go to step 7.
    1. Click Import Transport Type.
    2. Enter the name of an XML file that defines the transport (or use Browse to navigate to the file).
    3. Click Upload.
    Note: From the Gateway List, you can also delete a user-defined transport type. You cannot delete a transport provided by WebSphere Business Integration Connect. Also, you cannot delete a user-defined transport after it has been used for creating a gateway.
  7. Click Create.
  8. Type a name to identify the gateway. This is a required field.
  9. Optionally indicate the status of the gateway. Enabled is the default. A gateway that is enabled is ready to send documents. A gateway that is disabled cannot send documents.
  10. Optionally indicate whether the gateway is Online or Offline. The default is Online.
  11. Optionally enter a description of the gateway.

The steps shown are common to all gateways. After you select a gateway, however, the choices on the screen vary. Here are the additional steps you take to configure the gateway, based on its transport type.

Note that, after you provide the transport-specific information to define a gateway, you can also modify configuration points for the gateway.

Creating an HTTP gateway

To create an HTTP gateway:

  1. In the Target URI field, enter the URI where the document will be delivered. This field is required.

    The format is: http://<servername>:<optional port>/<path>

    An example of this format is:

    http://anotherwbicserver.ibm.com:57080/bcgreceiver/Receiver
  2. Optionally enter a user name and password, if a user name and password are required to access the secure HTTP server.
  3. In the Retry Count field, enter the number of times you want the gateway to attempt to send a document before it fails. The default is 3.
  4. In the Retry Interval field, enter the amount of time the gateway should wait before attempting to send the document again. The default is 300 seconds.
  5. In the Number of Threads field, enter the number of documents that should be processed simultaneously. The default is 3.
  6. In the Validate Client IP field, select Yes if you want the IP address of the sender to be validated before the document is processed. Select No otherwise. The default is No.
  7. In the Auto Queue field, select Yes if you want the gateway to be placed offline (automatically) if a delivery failure is about to occur because the number of retries has been exhausted. Select No otherwise. The default is No.

    When you select Auto Queue, all documents remain queued until the gateway is placed online manually.

  8. In the Connection Timeout field, enter the number of seconds a socket will remain open with no traffic. The default is 120 seconds.
  9. If you want to configure the preprocess or postprocess step for the gateway, go to Modifying configuration points for gateways. Otherwise, click Save.

Creating an HTTPS gateway

To create an HTTPS gateway:

  1. In the Target URI field, enter the URI where the document will be delivered. This field is required.

    The format is: https://<servername>:<optional port>/<path>

    For example:

    https://anotherwbicserver.ibm.com:57443/bcgreceiver/Receiver
  2. Optionally enter a user name and password, if a user name and password are required to access the secure HTTP server.
  3. In the Retry Count field, enter the number of times you want the gateway to attempt to send a document before it fails. The default is 3.
  4. In the Retry Interval field, enter the amount of time the gateway should wait before attempting to send the document again. The default is 300 seconds.
  5. In the Number of Threads field, enter the number of documents that should be processed simultaneously. The default is 3.
  6. In the Validate Client IP field, select Yes if you want the IP address of the sender to be validated before the document is processed. Select No otherwise. The default is No.
  7. In the Validate Client SSL Cert field, select Yes if you want the digital certificate of the sending partner to be validated against the DUNS number associated with the document. The default is No.
  8. In the Auto Queue field, select Yes if you want the gateway to be placed offline (automatically) if a delivery failure is about to occur because the number of retries has been exhausted. Select No otherwise. The default is No.

    When you select Auto Queue, all documents remain queued until the gateway is placed online manually.

  9. In the Connection Timeout field, enter the number of seconds a socket will remain open with no traffic. The default is 120 seconds.
  10. If you want to configure the preprocess or postprocess step for the gateway, go to Modifying configuration points for gateways. Otherwise, click Save.

Creating an FTP gateway

To create an FTP gateway:

  1. In the Target URI field, enter the URI where the document will be delivered. This field is required.

    The format is: ftp://<ftp servername>: <portno>

    For example:

    ftp://ftpserver1.ibm.com:2115

    If you do not enter a port number, the standard FTP port is used.

  2. Optionally enter a user name and password, if a user name and password are required to access the FTP server.
  3. In the Retry Count field, enter the number of times you want the gateway to attempt to send a document before it fails. The default is 3.
  4. In the Retry Interval field, enter the amount of time the gateway should wait before attempting to send the document again. The default is 300 seconds.
  5. In the Number of Threads field, enter the number of documents that should be processed simultaneously. The default is 3.
  6. In the Validate Client IP field, select Yes if you want the IP address of the sender to be validated before the document is processed. Select No otherwise. The default is No.
  7. In the Auto Queue field, select Yes if you want the gateway to be placed offline (automatically) if a delivery failure is about to occur because the number of retries has been exhausted. Select No otherwise. The default is No.

    When you select Auto Queue, all documents remain queued until the gateway is placed online manually.

  8. In the Connection Timeout field, enter the number of seconds a socket will remain open with no traffic. The default is 120 seconds.
  9. If you want to configure the preprocess or postprocess step for the gateway, go to Modifying configuration points for gateways. Otherwise, click Save.

Creating an SMTP gateway

To create an SMTP gateway:

  1. In the Target URI field, enter the URI where the document will be delivered. This field is required.

    The format is: mailto:<user@servername>

    For example:

    mailto:admin@anotherwbicserver.ibm.com
  2. Optionally enter a user name and password, if a user name and password are required to access the SMTP server.
  3. In the Retry Count field, enter the number of times you want the gateway to attempt to send a document before it fails. The default is 3.
  4. In the Retry Interval field, enter the amount of time the gateway should wait before attempting to send the document again. The default is 300 seconds.
  5. In the Number of Threads field, enter the number of documents that should be processed simultaneously. The default is 3.
  6. In the Validate Client IP field, select Yes if you want the IP address of the sender to be validated before the document is processed. Select No otherwise. The default is No.
  7. In the Auto Queue field, select Yes if you want the gateway to be placed offline (automatically) if a delivery failure is about to occur because the number of retries has been exhausted. Select No otherwise. The default is No.

    When you select Auto Queue, all documents remain queued until the gateway is placed online manually.

  8. In the Authentication Required field, indicate whether a user name and password are supplied with the document. The default is No.
  9. In the Connection Timeout field, enter the number of seconds a socket will remain open with no traffic. The default is 120 seconds.
  10. If you want to configure the preprocess or postprocess step for the gateway, go to Modifying configuration points for gateways. Otherwise, click Save.

Creating a JMS gateway

To create a JMS gateway:

  1. In the Target URI field, enter the URI where the document will be delivered. This field is required.

    For WebSphere MQ JMS, the format of the target URI is as follows:

    file:///<user_defined_MQ_JNDI_bindings_path>

    For example:

    file:///opt/JNDI-Directory

    The directory contains the " .bindings" file for the file-based JNDI. This file indicates to WebSphere Business Integration Connect how to route the document to its intended destination.

    For participant gateways, the participant will probably provide the ".bindings" file. Internal JMS gateways (that is, the Community Manager gateway) can be produced using JMSAdmin as discussed in Preparing to configure the hub.

    This field is required.

  2. Optionally enter a user name and password, if a user name and password are required to access the JMS queue.
  3. In the Retry Count field, enter the number of times you want the gateway to attempt to send a document before it fails. The default is 3.
  4. In the Retry Interval field, enter the amount of time the gateway should wait before attempting to send the document again. The default is 300 seconds.
  5. In the Number of Threads field, enter the number of documents that should be processed simultaneously. The default is 3.
  6. In the Validate Client IP field, select Yes if you want the IP address of the sender to be validated before the document is processed. Select No otherwise. The default is No.
  7. In the Auto Queue field, select Yes if you want the gateway to be placed offline (automatically) if a delivery failure is about to occur because the number of retries has been exhausted. Select No otherwise. The default is No.

    When you select Auto Queue, all documents remain queued until the gateway is placed online manually.

  8. In the Authentication Required field, indicate whether a user name and password are supplied with the document. The default is No.
  9. In the JMS Factory Name field, enter the name of the Java class the JMS provider uses to connect to the JMS queue. This field is required.
  10. In the JMS Message Class field, enter the message class. The choices are any valid JMS Message class, such as TextMessage or BytesMessage. This field is required.
  11. In the JMS Message Type field, enter the type of message. This is an optional field.
  12. In the Provider URL Packages field, enter the name of the classes (or JAR file) that Java uses to understand the JMS context URL. This field is optional. If you do not specify a value, the file system path to the bindings file is used.
  13. In the JMS Queue Name field, enter the name of the JMS queue where documents are to be sent. This field is required.
  14. In the JMS JNDI Factory Name field, enter the factory name used to connect to the name service. This field is required. The value of com.sun.jndi.fscontext.RefFSContextFactory is the one you will probably use, if you set up your JMS configuration as described in Preparing to configure the hub.
  15. In the Connection Timeout field, enter the number of seconds a socket will remain open with no traffic. The default is 120 seconds.
  16. If you want to configure the preprocess or postprocess step for the gateway, go to Modifying configuration points for gateways. Otherwise, click Save.

Creating a file-directory gateway

To create a file-directory gateway:

  1. In the Target URI field, enter the URI where the document will be delivered. This field is required.

    The format for UNIX systems and for Windows systems in which the file directory is on the same drive on which WebSphere Business Integration Connect is installed is: file:///<path to target directory>

    For example:

    file:///localfiledir 

    where localfiledir is a directory off the root directory.

    For Windows systems in which the file directory is on a separate drive from WebSphere Business Integration Connect, the format is: file:///<drive letter>:/<path>

  2. In the Retry Count field, enter the number of times you want the gateway to attempt to send a document before it fails. The default is 3.
  3. In the Retry Interval field, enter the amount of time the gateway should wait before attempting to send the document again. The default is 300 seconds.
  4. In the Number of Threads field, enter the number of documents that should be processed simultaneously. The default is 3.
  5. In the Validate Client IP field, select Yes if you want the IP address of the sender to be validated before the document is processed. Select No otherwise. The default is No.
  6. In the Auto Queue field, select Yes if you want the gateway to be placed offline (automatically) if a delivery failure is about to occur because the number of retries has been exhausted. Select No otherwise. The default is No.

    When you select Auto Queue, all documents remain queued until the gateway is placed online manually.

  7. If you want to configure the preprocess or postprocess step for the gateway, go to Modifying configuration points for gateways. Otherwise, click Save.

Creating an FTPS gateway

To create an FTPS gateway:

  1. In the Target URI field, enter the URI where the document will be delivered. This field is required.

    The format is: ftp://<ftp servername>:<portno>

    For example:

    ftp://ftpserver1.ibm.com:2115

    If you do not enter a port number, the standard FTP port is used.

  2. Optionally enter a user name and password, if a user name and password are required to access the secure FTP server.
  3. In the Retry Count field, enter the number of times you want the gateway to attempt to send a document before it fails. The default is 3.
  4. In the Retry Interval field, enter the amount of time the gateway should wait before attempting to send the document again. The default is 300 seconds.
  5. In the Number of Threads field, enter the number of documents that should be processed simultaneously. The default is 3.
  6. In the Validate Client IP field, select Yes if you want the IP address of the sender to be validated before the document is processed. Select No otherwise. The default is No.
  7. In the Auto Queue field, select Yes if you want the gateway to be placed offline (automatically) if a delivery failure is about to occur because the number of retries has been exhausted. Select No otherwise. The default is No.

    When you select Auto Queue, all documents remain queued until the gateway is placed online manually.

  8. If you want to configure the preprocess or postprocess step for the gateway, go to Modifying configuration points for gateways. Otherwise, click Save.
Note: For an outbound FTPS gateway to work correctly, you need at least the CA certificate of the FTPS server loaded under the Hub Operator's profile as a Root certificate. (You use Account Admin > Profile > Certificates to load a certificate.) When you load this certificate, WebSphere Business Integration Connection will trust the certificate of the FTPS server.

If the FTPS server requires client authentication as well, you must have a client certificate loaded under the Hub Operator's profile as an SSL certificate. WebSphere Business Integration Connect provides this certificate to the FTPS server. The FTPS server of the participant must be set up to trust your certificate.

For more information about security, see Setting up security for inbound and outbound exchanges.

Modifying configuration points for gateways

As described in Introduction, you can modify two processing points for a gateway--Preprocess and Postprocess.

To apply a user-written handler for these configuration points, you must first upload the handler, as described in Uploading user-defined handlers. You can also use a system-supplied handler, which is already available and does not have to be uploaded.

To modify a configuration point:

  1. If you are in the process of creating a gateway, continue to step 6. If you are updating a gateway configuration, click Account Admin > Profiles > Community Participant.
  2. Enter search criteria and click Search, or click Search without entering any search criteria to display a list of all participants.
  3. Click the magnifying glass icon to display the participant's profile.
  4. Click Gateways.
  5. Click the magnifying glass icon to display the gateway, and then click the edit icon to edit the gateway.
  6. Select from the Configuration Point Handlers list the configuration point to be modified. The configuration points that can be modified for gateways are Preprocess and Postprocess.
  7. Perform one or more of the following steps for each handler you want to modify.
    1. Add a handler by selecting the handler from the Available Handlers list and clicking Add. The handler is moved to the Configured Handlers list.
      Note: WebSphere Business Integration Connect does not supply default gateway handlers. The only handlers in the Available List will be those that you uploaded.
    2. Remove a handler by selecting the handler from the Configured Handlers list and clicking Remove. The handler is moved to the Available Handlers list.
    3. Rearrange the order in which the handler is used by selecting the handler and clicking Move Up or Move Down.
    4. Configure the handler by selecting it from the Configured List and clicking Configure. The list of attributes that can be configured will be displayed.
  8. Click Save.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2003, 2004