With ftp we can do an ACTIVE file transfer or a PASSIVE file transfer.  In most cases it's just the adding of a parameter in our bpml to switch.   It may be that we don't need to add anything because the default setting is just fine.   An ACTIVE file transfer is one where the ftp client will request, by the PORT command, that the ftp server initiate opening the data connection.  The ftp server will do this by connecting to the client on a tcp port that the client is listening on. So what happens when we do an Active... [More]

With ftp we can do a PASSIVE file transfer.  In most cases it's just the adding of a parameter in our bpml to switch.   It may be that we don't need to add anything because the default setting is just fine.   A PASSIVE file transfer is one where the ftp client will request, by the PASV command, that the ftp server tell it what port it is listening on.  Then the ftp client will initiate opening the data connection to that specified port.  The ftp server will do this by sending a "227 entering Passive... [More]

Author: Manisha Khond, IBM Cognitive Engagement, Watson Supply Chain.   The purpose of Sterling Connect:Direct Requester Submit Process Service is to submit a Connect:Direct process to remote Connect:Direct node. The submitted process executes on the remote Connect:Direct node. The Service requires the Sterling Connect:Direct Requester adapter to be used. There are three ways to submit a process to execute on a remote Connect:Direct node. Submit the name of a process that already exists on the remote Connect:Direct node. Submit the process... [More]

Upgrading With each new code stream (e.g.5.2. 4 .x to 5.2. 5 or 5.2. 6 ) IBM provides release notes. Despite this we often receive PMRs asking if there are any known issues upgrading from one version of IBM Sterling B2B Integrator to another, unfortunately opening a PMR is not a short cut to reading the release notes. They contain many important sections including one called "Known Issues". For example, here's the release notes for 5.2.6   IBM Installation Manager (IIM) One big change in version 5.2.6 is the... [More]

Tags:  beatty fixpack upgrade

When setting up AS2 communications you are automatically dealing with multiple certificates.  If you throw SSL into the mix you possibly just doubled the number of certificates.  So, when you do encounter an issue, or error, which certificate do you need to look at?     A quick guide to get your debugging started. NOTE: all of the following errors are not necessarily caused by a bad or mismatched certificate. Once certificates are verified your debugging can evolve into the AS2 configuration (Payload Type, Signing Algorithm,... [More]

Tags:  as2 certificates error_messages

As you aware SB2Bi allows admins/users to create system defined password policies through SB2Bi dashboard's Accounts menu -> Password Policy screen. A policy can be associated with SB2Bi User or SFG Trading Partner. Often times, System admins want to know if these password policy capabilities could be extendable such a way password rules are far stricter. This blog aims to help such requirement. SB2Bi offers a way to define and integrate custom password policy by implementing a java class for exposed interface. Link to documentation can... [More]

Tags:  custompassword passwordpolicy sb2bi kishore

Digital certificates are key to AS2 communication for signing and encrypting the data at rest (that is the data that's received). They're also used in data "in flight" - that is the data as it's in transit over the internet - using   S FTP, FTP S or HTTP S (secured forms of communication). Digital certificates are not unique to IBM Sterling B2B Integrator or IBM in general but we handle a large volume of PMRs due to a lack of understanding of digital certificates. Despite blogging on this topic several times and ample... [More]

Tags:  certificates convert beatty p7b

BEFORE YOU BEGIN: Confirm with your Trading Partner that the new certificate is in place and ready to be used. Once you change the certificate in their profile our software expects that certificate to be used for signing and encryption. I will discuss in another blog posting the "Go Live" option but for the purposes of the following exercise, when you select this new certificate your Trading Partner must be configured on their end to utilize this same certificate   Once  you've... [More]

Tags:  certificates tp beatty

Once you've saved a trading partner's chained certificate off as shown in the " Working With Chained Certificates " the next step is to check that certificate into IBM Sterling B2B Integrator. From the dashboard, select Trading Partner → Digital Certificates → CA and in the “ Check in ” section click Go!   Click the “ Choose File ” button and select the root certificate then click Next >   Then click Finish   Repeat this for the remaining (e.g. the intermediate... [More]

Tags:  beatty ca certificates

It's inevitable - a digital certificate expires and you either acquire a new one for your organization or your trading partner sends you a new one. Certificates are also used in SSL secured protocols (FTPS, SFTP and HTTPS). Sometimes you don't even realize the certificate expired until transactions fail.  That's when the panic sets in - you haven't dealt with this in a year or two and you don't remember the steps necessary to fix this. Typically the certificate you receive will have a *.cer file extension (if not, r... [More]

Tags:  beatty certificates

Here is one more blog on user exit offering from Sterling B2B Integrator and Sterling File Gateway suite. Following are the blogs I published on other user exits in past. User Exit framework as such same for all of these but just differ in names of interfaces and configuration files. FTP/SFTP server User Exits in SB2Bi 5.2.5 Login and Logout User Exits in SB2Bi 5.2.5/5.2.6 FixPack   As of date, SB2Bi 5.2.6.3 is latest fix-pack and it offers 7 User Exits around Mailbox.... [More]

Tags:  kishore sb2bi userexit sterlingintegrator si mailboxuserexit

The following steps can be used for any of the B2Bi processes. For example the noapp, ops, bilisten, activemq, extpurge. Not all processes have children pids and only the noapp process can be monitored within the B2Bi application.   Unix/Linux installs: 1) cat the noapp.pid in the root directory of the Sterling B2B Integrator install.         2) grep the noapp pid and determine the child pid for the noapp pid. ps -ef | grep "noapp pid"     3) Determine the database port. The sandbox.cfg in the... [More]

Recently I've received a set of PMRs dealing with various protocol session related failures such as:   :[2017-05-07 06:01:20.306] ERROR [1494154880306] Invald session ID: ConnectDirectServerAdapternode1_CDSERVER_ADAPTER_node1P01302732805L6952:72843354; the session context is closed  (or does not exist)         Or                                  For a session... [More]

Tags:  session troubleshooting beatty

You must have been already aware that B2BAPIs interface is hosted (deployed) on WAS Liberty server bundled within Sterling File Gateway (SFG). This deployment happens at the time of installation of b2biAPIs_nnnn.jar (e.g., b2biAPIs_1000603.jar) over SFG. During installation of b2biAPIs_nnnn.jar, it creates the certificate key store with default certificate automatically and assigns expiration date of 1 year after. This is the certificate would be used while accessing secure B2BAPIs interface i.e.,... [More]

Tags:  rest-api sfg kishore key.jks b2bapis server.xml