Configuration requirements

The configuration process define the particular transports, messaging protocols, and business protocols the trading community will support. It also defines the trading community participants, as well as the specific types of documents and protocols valid for each participant to send and receive. To make configuration easier, Partner Gateway comes with predefined configuration elements for all of the industry-standard protocols and formats it supports.

The following elements need to be configured. For detailed configuration information, see the Hub Configuration Guide.

Target

A target is an entry point into Partner Gateway. It is an instance of a receiver configured for a particular deployment. You may have multiple targets configured from one receiver. For example, you may configure multiple JMS targets using the JMS receiver. Each JMS target can be configured to poll for inbound documents on separate inbound queues. Each target's configuration specifies which inbound queue the target polls.

A target listens or polls for new documents to be processed by Partner Gateway. For example, it can poll a folder on the file system, a JMS queue, or listen on an HTTP URL for incoming documents from business partners or from a back-end system. A target is used for both inbound and outbound flows. Inbound are coming into Parterner Gateway and outbound are leaving Partner Gateway.

Gateway

A gateway is an exit point out of Partner Gateway. It is used by Partner Gateway to deliver documents to a back-end system or a trading partner. For example, when sending a document to a partner, your WebSphere Partner Gateway server needs a gateway that points to a URL configured on your partner's server. In this case, the gateway points to a remote target on the partner's server. However, a gateway can also point to a resource in an internal network, such as a JMS queue configured as the input queue for WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker.

A gateway is defined by a gateway definition, which includes a destination URI, optional login information, and transport-level settings for the gateway.

Profile

A profile is required for each trading community participant. The profile holds participant data, routing information, and console-access authorizations. The participant profile consists of partner information, configuration data for document routing, and console access authorizations. The profile includes information such as:

The participant data includes participant names and business identifiers such as DUNS numbers. A single partner can have one or more business identifiers.

Users are accounts that have access to the Partner Gateway console. A user account gets its permissions to interact with the console based on group membership.

Contacts are similar to users; however, they cannot interact with the console, and they can only be configured to receive notifications from the alert system.

Document flow definition

A document flow definition must be defined for each type of document to be processed by Partner Gateway. The document flow definition gives information to the hub about how to process the document:

There are several parts to a document flow definition. A package defines how a document is to be packaged per a specification for the transport, such as AS2. A protocol describes the general standard that a document adheres to, such as EDI-X12. A document flow details what needs to be done with the contents of a flow. All of these parts have attributes that may apply, providing the runtime the information required to help process the document.

Interaction

An interaction specifies how the document gets processed through Partner Gateway, independent of any participants.

The interaction defines for a received document (package, protocol, and document flow):

B2B capabilities

B2B capabilities identify to Partner Gateway the specific document types each trading community participant is authorized to send and receive. Depending on the document type, some characteristics can be set on how the Community manager wants to send or receive the document (as pertains to the participant). A participant's B2B capabilities are defined as:

You need to specify the B2B capabilities for each participant by selecting the applicable document flow definitions from the pool that has been defined for the trading community.

Participant connection

A participant connection specifies a valid type of document exchange between a specific participant and the Community Manager. The participant connection is an Interaction that has been associated with specific sending and receiving partners. A participant connection also specifies the gateways and other routing information necessary for that exchange.

Partner Gateway derives a list of valid participant connections for document exchange between the participant and the Community manager using the defined Interactions and partner B2B capabilities.

From the list of valid connections, you need to activate those connections that are actually needed by the participant to send or receive its business documents.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2003, 2005