What I am writing below is a bit of a fudge. You can definitely read the RFC as suggested for the 'real' story, but I think I'm answering the questions in terms you are looking for. I would respectfully disagree with Mr.Wertheimer's stament that the connection is always on. That makes me think of an old style frame-relay or leased line. A good, basic analogy is to think of AS2 as an email message with an encrypted attachment. That is the connection is not always "On", but when you have a message to send, a connection is started (an http connection is initiated) and the data is sent.
Typically your company has only one certificate. Importantly this consists of two parts. A private cert which you should never share, and then a public cert (*.cer or *.p7b) which you email to your trading partners when you initially set up the connection. Your trading partners have the same set-up so if you have ten partners, you will have ten partner certs plus your own. Certs have an expiration date configured by the partner. Could be 1 yr, 2yrs, 5, and so on. Only when they expire or if your partner makes a change should you have to change out certs. So there shouldn't be a “mad exchange of certs” on a frequent basis, unless you have a very large number of partners. And while AS2 software is different, most support the basic funciton you mentioned of collecting files from a Outbox to send to the patner and having your inbound transactions from a partner dropped into an Inbox for processing. -Peter ________________________________ From: Rich Silva <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thu, June 23, 2011 7:47:11 AM Subject: [EDI-L] <TECH> Mechanics of an AS2 connection Hey Y’all… I was wondering if one of you could describe the basic mechanics of an AS2 connection for me… To give a little context, I understand an “FTP” connection… · It’s a Client/Server technology · One Partner runs an FTP server · One Partner has an FTP Client app · On the Server side, an account is created and maybe a folder hierarchy · On the Client side, you make a connection using the FTP Client app and either send or receive files · If I wanted this to be automated o On the Client side, I’d write a simple script to make the connection and then send files from a Client side Outbox or receive files from specific folders/filenames to a client side Inbox … o On the Server side, I’d “just” put outgoing files in an “Outbox” or detect that files existed in the “Inbox” So what would be the AS2 version of this? Context to the question… I’m observing what looks more like a Clydestone Cops movie… · (At my Client) there are already existing “AS2 Connection” to two Trading Partner, but no one currently in the company knows how they were set up… · There is a “mad” exchange of Certs… No one is really sure whether the Certs have to be distinct (that is whether the same (out side) AS2 Cert can be used for more than one connection. · No one is thinking (on either side) about how the connection is managed, but neither can they answer the question about whether some trigger needs to be pulled to actually cause a file to transmit over the “connection”/// · And I don’t know either · (Luckily, this connection is not my responsibility…) So, I figured I’d ask in this forum… · Is an AS2 connection basically “always connected”? (That is, “I” just drop files into an “Out Box” and they magically get sent across the connection… And I just look in the “In Box” for the existence of files to know that something has come the other way? · Or is there some mechanism that needs to be set up on one side or the other (or both) that is managing the file movement? · If I have “my AS2 Cert”, can I use that same cert to exchange with more than one Partner? Or do I need a specific Cert for each? If it matters, the “software” involved is thought to have come from NuBridges… Although when I dig around, no one thinks that NuBridges is being used as a VAN, but that a direct Partner to Partner connection is being set up… Rich Description: Wizard Clip Art SigRichard Silva Silva Software Services – United States Phone: (310) 387-8364 Email: <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] ü Please consider the environment before printing this email. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ ... Please use the following Message Identifiers as your subject prefix: <SALES>, <JOBS>, <LIST>, <TECH>, <MISC>, <EVENT>, <OFF-TOPIC> Job postings are welcome, but for job postings or requests for work: <JOBS> IS REQUIRED in the subject line as a prefix.Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
