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

We already presented a scenario where a file is PGP-decrypted by Sterling File Gateway (SFG). For an introduction to PGP, its implementation in this scenario and additional configuration stuff please refer to the article: PGP decryption in Sterling File Gateway Encryption scenario A plain text file is put via FTP to the mailbox of the producer TP gwsProvider2. This file is encrypted via PGP and then put in the mailbox of the consumer TP gwsConsumer2. The encrypted file is then transferred via FTP to a destination... [More]

Tags:  sfg pgp

I have seen a number of customers do one or more of the following things in their SFG setup in an attempt to "simplify" or "clean up" things.   * delete the user accounts for partners that are listening consumers * delete some user accounts' virtual roots * change the name of the user account that is associated with an SFG partner * delete some partners' default mailboxes   At the time, all of these things seemed like a good idea to the person that did them, but they also come with hidden costs.   All... [More]

Tags:  partners sfg

If you are looking to implement Java based REST API Client to invoke B2B APIs, my previous articles would help you. These include working java (REST API Client) classes for 2 of the APIs. REST API Proof Of Concept - Automate Sterling FileGateway Community and Trading Partner creation  REST API Client - upload message to Sterling B2B Integrator Mailbox    These articles covered how to generate JSON input string for... [More]

Tags:  sterling kishore json sfg b2bapi

We have had some customers ask about allowing the fg_sysadmin user account to have direct access to the /myfilegateway URI (MFG below) in order to upload and download files. This is my two cents worth on that subject.   Most people have seen or heard of Windows/Linux administrators who have two separate accounts on the machine that they administer. They use one account that has their full administrative privileges for doing things that only an administrator can and should do. However, a lot of what administrators do is more mundane work... [More]

Tags:  fg_sysadmin myfilegateway sfg

This is something that doesn't come up very often, about once every two years or so, but it just came up again, so I am going to write about it. Once you create a custom protocol in IBM Sterling File Gateway, you cannot change the name of the associated business process . Some people assume that you can do it by doing the following steps: 1. Edit the AFTExtensionsCustomer.xml file and change the name of the BP next to "bp=" for the custom protocol, then save the change. 2. Run setupfiles. 3. Run deployer. Unfortunately, that... [More]

Tags:  protocol sfg custom

Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is a program developed by Phil Zimmermann to encrypt/decrypt and sign data. There are several commercial and non-commercial implementations available.   In this article we would like to describe how a PGP can be used by Sterling File Gateway (SFG) to decrypt a pgp-encrypted file. We assume that the reader is familiar with PGP and the basic functionalities of SFG, like e. g. creation of communities, partners, routing channel (templates).   Decryption scenario A PGP encrypted file is put in the mailbox of... [More]

Tags:  sfg pgp

This is another in a continuing series about decisions to be made in the planning stages of an IBM Sterling File Gateway (SFG) implementation. It has to do with thinking about the naming of routing channel templates (RCTs), and is intended as a guide to the planning your naming rules.    When you click Routes > Templates in the SFG menu, the screen defaults to the Type tab of the new RCT. At that top of the screen, there is a field titled "Template Name". When you begin to type, you will see a message that reads... [More]

Tags:  sfg planning templates

This is the first in a series about things to think about prior to implementing IBM Sterling File Gateway (SFG). There are some things that, if you do not think about them early in the process of implementing SFG may come back to haunt you because they are difficult and time consuming to change once you go into production. The first subject for consideration is the different possible uses of communities. Perhaps the most common use of separate communities, and one recommended by IBM Support, is for the separation of partners that are company... [More]

Tags:  implementation planning communities sfg

There's nothing more frustrating than having your production environment running smoothly only to come in one day and discover failures. It might be a relief when you realize it's only happening to a certain Trading Partner (TP). This is your first clue. A Little Background in the FTP Protocol When an FTP client first establishes a connection to an FTP Server it does so over what is called a control channel. This is usually done over port 21. Once a connection has been established a new connection back to the client is created. Part of creating... [More]

Tags:  protocol sfg troubleshooting file_gateway beatty ftp

The recent Broadcasting in Sterling File Gateway helped demystify various methods for broadcasting but left at least one participant scratching their head over the fact names and file pattern names. Where are keywords or facts like ConsumerBroadcastGroup, myFilename, ProducerName documented? It's simple to say they're in the IBM Sterling File Gateway Infocenter but maybe not quite obvious as to where. If you look into the Routing Channel Template section they are listed. These seemingly strange combinations of curly brackets {},... [More]

Tags:  sfg protocol beatty gateway

Many customers have the need to broadcast or publish certain types of messages, like financial information or reports of some kind, this means sending the same file simultaneously to many different remote partners. This blog aims to help Sterling File Gateway (SFG) administrators configure Broadcast correctly and it summarizes the main points of the different ways of configuring broadcast within SFG. In addition you can also consult the already existing SFG documentation and white papers, see links at the end of the blog. You can configure... [More]

Tags:  sb2bi file sbi broadcasting si filegateway fact gateway sterling sfg

Recently I worked on a PMR where the client was looking to do some logic based decisions in BPML based on how old certain files are.  This particular client also had a need to generate some timestamps with dates from the future.  It's easy enough to get the current time in different formats out of the Timestamp Utility Service, but was a bit trickier than I expected to get some of the math working.   The Timestamp Utility Service parameters are documented  but some solid examples would be even... [More]

Tags:  bpml sbi sfg