Configuring the FTP server for receiving documents

Note: This section applies only to receiving documents over FTP or FTPS from participants. Sending documents to participants is described in Creating an FTP gateway and Creating an FTPS gateway.

If you are going to use FTP or FTPS as a transport for incoming documents, you must have an FTP server installed. If you are planning to use FTP and do not currently have a server installed, do so now before continuing. Make sure that one of the following scenarios is true for your installation:

Configuring the required directory structure on the FTP server

After the FTP Server is installed, the next step is to create the required directory structure under the home directory of the FTP server. WebSphere Business Integration Connect requires a particular directory structure so that the Receiver and Document Manager components can correctly identify the participant sending the incoming document. The structure looks like this:

Figure 15. FTP Directory structure

Each participant directory contains a Binary directory and a Documents directory. Both the Binary and Documents directories contain a Production directory and a Test directory.

The Documents directory is used when a participant sends an XML document containing complete routing information (using FTP) to the hub. This requires the creation of a Custom XML definition. See Managing custom XML.

The Binary directory is used when a participant sends any other documents (using FTP) to the hub.

For each participant who will use FTP to send or receive documents, create the following folders from the root directory of your FTP server:

  1. Create a folder for the participant.
  2. Create subfolders under the participant folder named Binary and Documents.
  3. Create subfolders under the Binary and Documents folders called Production and Test.

How files sent over FTP are processed

It is important to understand how binary and XML files are processed by the FTP server.

Binary files

Binary files have a required file name structure, because the files are not inspected at all by the Document Manager.

The file name structure is: <ToParticipantID><UniqueFileName>

When a binary file is detected by the Receiver, it is written to shared storage and passed to the Document Manager for processing.

The name of the directory in which the file was detected is used to evaluate the From Participant Name, and the first part of the file name is used to evaluate the To Participant Name. The position of the directory in the directory structure is used to evaluate whether the transaction is a Production or Test transaction.

For example, a file named 123456789.abcdefg1234567 is detected in the \ftproot\partnerTwo\binary\production directory. The Document Manager knows the following information:

The Document Manager then looks for a Production participant connection from partnerTwo to partnerOne for None (N/A)/Binary (1.0)/Binary (1.0) and processes the file.

XML files

An XML file has no file name requirements because the file is inspected by the Document Manager and the routing information is extracted from the document itself.

When an XML file is detected by the Receiver, it is written to the shared storage and passed to the Document Manager for processing.

The Document Manager compares the XML file to the XML Formats that have been defined and selects the required XML Format. The From Participant Name, To Participant Name, and the Routing information are extracted from the XML File.

The position of the directory in the directory structure is used to evaluate whether the transaction is a Production or Test transaction.

The Document Manager then uses this information to locate the correct participant connection before processing the file.

Note: Files such as EDI documents, when received over FTP, are processed as Binary by the Document Manager. These documents are treated by the WebSphere Business Integration Connect system as pass-through documents.

Additional FTP server configuration

After creating the required directory structure, you configure your FTP Server for each of the participants in the hub community. The way you configure the FTP Server depends on which server you are using. Refer to the FTP Server documentation, and perform the following tasks:

  1. Add a new group (for example, WBIC).
  2. Add a user to the newly created group for each participant who will be sending or receiving documents over FTP.
  3. For each participant, set up the FTP server to map the incoming participant to the respective directory structure you created for the participant in the earlier section Configuring the required directory structure on the FTP server. Refer to your FTP server documentation for additional information.

Security considerations for the FTPS server

If you are using an FTPS server to receive incoming documents, the security considerations for the SSL sessions are handled solely by the FTPS server and client that the participant is using. There is no specific security configuration for WebSphere Business Integration Connect on incoming FTPS documents. WebSphere Business Integration Connect retrieves the documents from the FTP target (which is described in Setting up an FTP target) after the server has successfully negotiated the secure channels and received the document. Refer to the FTPS server documentation to determine which certificates are needed (and where they are needed) to successfully configure a secure channel that the participant can contact.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2003, 2004