Configuring an AS4 outbound two-way push pull exchange profile

An exchange profile defines how messages are exchanged with a trading partner, and how those messages are processed internally. An outbound two-way push pull exchange involves sending two requests to your trading partner, a push request and a pull request. If a transaction involves transfer and processing or large files, you and your trading partner must agree to use an AS4 outbound two-way push pull exchange profile. In such transactions, the trading partner needs more time to process the request message and you cannot wait (hold the system resources) until the processing is complete.

Before you begin

You also can import an exchange profile as a resource from another installation of AS4 Microservice. For more information, see ../reference/as4/meg_resource_commands.html. Also, through the user interface, you can upload an exchange profile that has been saved as an XML jumpstart file from another installation of AS4 Microservice.

About this task

Security is mandatory for a two-way push pull exchange pattern. When you create an AS4 outbound two-way push pull exchange profile, you must associate a conformance policy (Light client, Minimal, or a custom conformance policy with security enabled) that has security enabled with the exchange profile. In an outbound exchange, your organization is the initiator or producer of the message that is sent to a partner.

The exchange profile uses the owner organization of the conformance policy. In the conformance policy, you must specify either the default B2B Master Organization owner organization or a customized owner organization.

When you are creating an exchange profile, you can browse to other pages or tabs of the user interface if required. The information that you have entered for the exchange profile is saved and you can complete the exchange profile configuration and deploy it at a later time. A progress bar on the Exchange Profiles collection page (Exchanges > Exchange Profiles) indicates the percentage of completion of the exchange profile. A percentage of 20 is allocated to each of the following components of the exchange profile:

  • Exchange profile name
  • Trading partner configuration
  • Trigger
  • Action
  • Deployment

When all of the components are configured, the progress bar indicates 100 percent, denoting that the exchange profile configuration is complete and the exchange profile is deployed.

Procedure

To create an AS4 outbound two-way push pull exchange profile:

  1. Log in to AS4 Microservice as the Master Account Administrator.
  2. Click Exchanges > Exchange Profiles.
  3. On the Exchange Profiles page, click New > AS4 Outbound.
  4. On the New Exchange Profile page, specify values for the following fields and click Save.
    Field Description
    Profile name Specify a unique name for the outbound two-way push pull exchange profile.
    Select the message exchange pattern for the profile Select AS4 Outbound Two-Way/Push-Pull message exchange pattern from the Exchange pattern list.
    Conformance policy

    Specify the conformance policy that you want to associate with the exchange profile. For a message exchange, a conformance policy defines the settings for the owner organization, security, reception awareness, error handling, notification, and file size optimization. Select the conformance policy that suits your requirements.

    For an AS4 inbound two-way push pull exchange profile, the default Minimal Client and Light Client conformance policies or any custom conformance policy with the following settings can be selected:
    • User authentication enabled
    • Inbound and outbound signing enabled
    • Receipts not enabled or set to asynchronous
    Note: The conformance policy can have all or any of the preceding settings.

    Use one of the following methods to specify a conformance policy:

    • To specify an existing conformance policy, click Select.
    • To create a new conformance policy, click Add Conformance Policy.

    After you specify a conformance policy, click Save.
  5. Click Edit corresponding to the Basic Properties section, specify values for the following fields, and click Save.
    Note: When configuring the exchange profile, you must not assign the value Any to the following fields:
    • Service
    • Service type
    • Sender ID
    • Receiver ID
    • Sender ID type
    • Receiver ID type
    Any is a reserved value. It is used for exchange profile look up when the any of the preceding fields do not have a user assigned value.
    Field Description
    Name Name of the exchange profile. The name that is entered in the Profile name field is populated here.
    Description Optional: Type a description for the exchange profile.
    Service Optional: You can specify a mutually agreed on (between your organization and the partner) service or a service assigned by a standards organization, for which the exchange profile can be used. For example, if catalog updates service is specified, the exchange profile is used for receiving catalog updates.

    Example of a service is urn:example.org:services:CatalogUpdates.
    Service type Optional: The service type indicates how the participating organizations interpret the service.

    For example, the catalog updates service can have new product updates, existing product updates, products removed from the catalog, and so on.

    Example of a service type is, NewProductUpdates.
    Agreement URI Optional: Type the URI of the location of the agreement (related to the p-mode parameter configuration and operation) between your organization and the partner. The URI must be agreed on by both the partners.

    Example of an agreement URI is, http://registry.example.com/cpa/123456.
    Processing mode ID Optional: Specify the mutually agreed on processing mode ID that is used to identify the processing mode configuration of the conformance policy.

    Example of a processing mode ID is SupplierOrderProcessing.PMode.
    Override party ID Optional: Select the Allow business partner ID to be overridden check box to override the business partner ID that is specified in the exchange profile and use the ID that is specified in the business document object (BDO) by the business application or in an user exit.
  6. Click Participating Organizations to specify the participating organizations.
    Field Description
    Owner Organization

    The owner organization is specified by default from the owner organization in the conformance policy of the exchange profile. In an outbound exchange profile, the owner organization is the initiator or producer of a message.
    Owner role Optional: The owner role is specified by default. To customize the role, remove the default role and enter a new one.
    Sender ID Optional: Click New and type a sender ID. The sender ID is the unique business identifier that is used to identify your organization. The ID can be mutually agreed on or assigned by an international code designator. For example, a DUNS ID.

    If sender ID type is not specified, the sender ID must be a valid unique resource identifier (URI).
    Sender ID type Optional: Click New and specify a sender ID type.

    The sender ID type indicates the area or domain to which the content of the sender ID of the trading partner organization belongs to.

    It is recommended that the value of the sender ID type be an URI. For example, urn:oasis:names:tc:ebxmlcppa: partyid-type:duns. However, the type can be any text or term that is mutually agreed on with the partner.
    Trading Partner Organization Click Select and select the trading partner organization. In an outbound exchange profile, the trading partner is the consumer or responder of the message.

    To create a new trading partner organization, click New Organization.
    Trading partner role Optional: The trading partner role is specified by default. To customize the role, remove the default role and enter a new one.
    Receiver ID Click New and type a receiver ID. The receiver ID is the unique business identifier that is used to identify the trading partner. The ID can be mutually agreed on or assigned by an international code designator. For example, a DUNS ID.

    If receiver ID type is not specified, the receiver ID must be a valid unique resource identifier (URI).
    Receiver ID type Optional: Click New and specify a receiver ID type.

    The receiver ID type indicates the area or domain to which the content of the receiver ID of the owner organization belongs.

    It is recommended that the value of the receiver ID type be an URI. For example, urn:oasis:names:tc:ebxmlcppa: partyid-type:duns. However, the type can be any text or term that is mutually agreed on with the partner.
  7. Click Outbound Push Request and specify Trigger and Action settings for the outbound push request.
    1. In the Trigger section, specify the messaging receiver that receives the push request message along with the business document object (BDO) and attachments from the business application.
    2. In the Action section, specify the HTTP or HTTPS destination of the trading partner where the push request message is packed and sent.
    Field Description
    Select Receiver Click Select and select the messaging receiver.

    To select a different messaging receiver, click Remove and select a new receiver.

    To create a new AS4 receiver, click New Messaging Receiver.
    Select destination Select the HTTP or HTTPS destination where the push request is sent.
    Configure connection For information about configuring connection settings for outbound push request, see Configuring connection settings for outbound push request in an outbound two-way push pull exchange profile.

    To edit the connection settings, click Edit.

    To remove the connection settings, click Remove.
  8. Click Outbound Pull Response and specify Trigger and Action settings for the pull response.
    1. In the Trigger section, specify the scheduler settings for triggering the pull request. Alternatively, you can specify the messaging receiver where the business application sends the request to pull the response from the trading partner.
    2. In the Action section, specify the pull destination (message partition channel) from where AS4 Microservice can pull the response.
    Field Description
    No. of Attempts Specify the number of times the pull request can be sent.
    Interval Specify the time interval between the pull requests and select the required unit of time. The available options are:
    • Minutes
    • Hours
    • Days
    Select Receiver Select the messaging receiver where the business application sends the request to pull the response from the trading partner.
    Pull MPC Name Specify the name of the pull destination or message partition channel from where the response can be pulled.

    The trading partner shares the name of the pull destination with you offline (possibly through an email).
    Select Destination Click Select to select the HTTP or HTTPS destination to send the pull request.
    Connection Settings For information about configuring connection settings for the pull response, see Configuring connection settings for outbound pull response in an outbound two-way push pull exchange profile.

    To edit the connection settings, click Edit.

    To remove the connection settings, click Remove.
    Select Destination Click Select to select the messaging destination where the pull response is sent.

    To create a new messaging destination, click New Destination.
  9. In the Deploy Exchange Profile section, click Deploy to deploy or enable the exchange profile.
    If the exchange profile configuration is incomplete, a list of items that must be configured to complete the exchange profile configuration is displayed in the Deploy Exchange Profile section. The Deploy button is enabled only when all the sections of the exchange profile are in Complete status.
    Note: When you update an exchange profile after deploying, the percentage complete shows as 80%, but the status shows as Deployed. For the updates to take effect and the percentage complete to show as 100 percent, you must redeploy the exchange profile.