Destination overview

In AS4 Microservice, a destination is an endpoint for delivering data or message to a partner or business application.

The following types of destinations are supported in AS4 Microservice:
  • HTTP or HTTPS destination
  • Messaging destination
  • MDN destination
  • Pull destination

HTTP or HTTPS destination

An HTTP or HTTPS destination is associated with a trading partner. An outbound message is delivered to the HTTP or HTTPS destination that is defined in the exchange profile. Based on the configuration of the HTTP or HTTPS destination, AS4 Microservice establishes a connection and delivers a message. If the destination is not available at the time of delivery, messages are resent based on the retry policy configuration.

To send a message to an HTTP or HTTPS destination, Chunked Transfer-Encoding (CTE) is supported by default in AS4 Microservice. CTE allows the dynamic generation and transmission of a message by transmitting that message in “chunks” or smaller pieces of data, instead of loading and transmitting the entire message at once. If your trading partner does not support message transmission by chunked transfer-encoding, you can disable CTE if you enter a chunked encoding threshold size when you configure an HTTP or HTTPS destination.

AS4 Microservice now supports the use of self-signed requests in HTTPS requests. Trading partners who exchange certificates through SSL often use self-signed certificates. You can select a self-signed certificate as you would another type of certificate.

Messaging destination

The messaging destination is used to configure the message fabric to deliver messages to the correct message queue. In inbound flows, the AS4 engines put the unpacked messages on to a specified messaging destination from where the messages are picked up by the business application. Additionally, a messaging destination can be used to send notification to the business application.

MDN destination

A message disposition notification (MDN) destination is used to send MDN to a trading partner. An MDN destination can have a specific URL or the URL specified in the incoming message can be used to send the MDN. AS4 Microservice establishes a connection with the MDN destination and sends the MDN based on the configuration of the destination. If the MDN destination is not available at the time of delivery, an MDN is resent based on the configuration of the exchange profile.

Chunked Transfer-Encoding (CTE) is also supported for requests to an MDN destination. If your trading partner does not support message transmission by chunked transfer-encoding, you can disable CTE if you enter a chunked encoding threshold size when you configure an MDN destination.

Pull destination

In a two-way push pull or one-way pull message exchange, the messages that can be pulled by a trading partner are stored in the pull destination. For more information about pull destination, see Pull destination overview.