Setting up AS2, part 3 (The AS2 Relationship)

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This is the last entry in a 3 part blog titled "Setting up AS2".

We will be tying the AS2 Organization (part 1) with the AS2 Partner (part 2) with the AS2 Relationship.

When the AS2 Relationship is created several 'things' happen within IBM Sterling B2B Integrator. Several AS2 components are created behind the scenes, like the following:

1, Filesystem folders - where AS2 messages are sent from, received into, and an error folder that holds information when an error occurs.

They are in the following format:

.../as2partner/AS2 Organization/AS2 Partner/error

.../as2partner/AS2 Organization/AS2 Partner/inbound

.../as2partner/AS2 Organization/AS2 Partner/outbound

2, a bp that contains the FileSystem Adapter that begins the whole sending process by picking up the data from the /outbound folder. The format of the name of the bp is: Schedule_AS2 Organization_AS2Partner_FS

3, a schedule that will run the above bp.

Now lets create the AS2 Relationship to see if what is stated above is true.

Creating the AS2 Relationship

Goto Trading Partner>AS2

Click [Go!] next to Create New - AS2 trading relationship

Click in the empty Organization field and start typing the name of the Organization. Double click it and it will fill the field.

Repeat the same steps for the Partner field.

Click [Next]

These are parameters that will be used to build all the 'things' mentioned at the beginning.

Take defaults, click [Next]

Does the folder structure look familiar?

By default it looks like the schedule will be running every 5 minutes. Do you see that?

Click [Next] and [Finish]

The AS2 Relationship has been created!

Let's look around and make sure all of our components are in place.

When we look for the FileSystem folders this is what we see:

We have a folder called BLOG_AS2_ORG under as2partner.

Inside the AS2 Organization folder (BLOG_AS2_ORG) we have 1 AS2 Partner folder called Some_Company.

Inside the Some_Company folder we have 3 separate folders called; error, inbound and outbound

Let's look for the bp and schedule that should have been created.

Goto Business Process>Manager.

Search for Process Name: Schedule_BLOG_AS2_ORG_Some_Company_FS

Now the Schedule:

Goto Deployment>Schedules

Search for a schedule called: BLOG_AS2_ORG_Some_Company_FS

To see the AS2 Relationship in IBM Sterling B2B Integrator:

Goto Trading Partner>AS2

Click [Go!] under Search Relationships

Too easy!

Now, whenever a file is placed in the /outbound folder the AS2 send process will be kicked off (the schedule will automatically run ever 5 minutes).

When your partner sends AS2 data to you, it will end up in the /inbound folder. FYI, EDIIntParse is the bp that will start the inbound process.

For any new AS2 Partners all you will need to do is create the AS2 Partner (part 2) then create the AS2 Relationship (part 3).

I hope you learned something from these tutorials. Remember, for the most part we used all the default settings in SI. There are several different ways you can configure AS2 within SI. The documentation, listed in part 1, will help you achieve what you need to accomplish.

If you can't find an answer in our documentation, please open a pmr with IBM Sterling B2B Integrator support. My colleagues, or I, would love to help you out.

Until next time.