Sterling Connect:Direct and Sterling B2B Integrator Interoperability

You can set up Sterling B2B Integrator to interoperate with Sterling Connect:Direct®.

What's New with the Interface between Sterling B2B Integrator and Sterling Connect:Direct
If your company uses both IBM® Sterling B2B Integrator and IBM Sterling Connect:Direct to perform business activities, route data, and transfer files, you can configure the IBM Sterling B2B Integrator - Connect:Direct Server Adapter to act as the primary node, that is, the node on which the process is being submitted or the secondary node that interacts with the primary node during process execution.
About Sterling Connect:Direct and Sterling B2B Integrator Interoperability
Sterling B2B Integrator enables a business to define business processes in a software application and route data between enterprise systems using different protocols and formats.
Create Sterling Connect:Direct and Sterling B2B Integrator User IDs
Your Sterling B2B Integrator administrator must create a Sterling B2B Integrator User ID for you. The administrator must give this User ID permission to execute Sterling B2B Integrator business processes that you copy files to or from. When you create your Sterling Connect:Direct processes, use this Sterling B2B Integrator User ID as the SNODEID of the Process statement.
Configure a Sterling B2B Integrator Netmap Entry
A node is a Sterling Connect:Direct server. Two Sterling Connect:Direct servers (local and remote) function together to perform data transfers. Either node can initiate the work by submitting a Process.
Configuring a Sterling Connect:Direct Server Adapter
The Sterling Connect:Direct Server Adapter can function as either the PNODE, SNODE, or both, in the Sterling Connect:Direct network, initiating and responding to Sterling Connect:Direct transfer requests. Configuring a Connect:Direct Server Adapter is similar to configuring a Sterling Connect:Direct server.
Adding Connect:Direct Server Adapter Node to Sterling Connect:Direct Netmap
On your Sterling Connect:Direct server, add the Sterling Connect:Direct Server Adapter node information to your Sterling Connect:Direct netmap with the following settings. Other settings may be required, and will vary according to the type of Sterling Connect:Direct environment. For more information on the values valid for your Sterling Connect:Direct platform, refer to your Sterling Connect:Direct documentation.
Creating a Sterling B2B Integrator Mailbox
When you copy a file from Sterling Connect:Direct to Sterling B2B Integrator, you can copy to a Sterling B2B Integrator mailbox. Mailboxes allow you to organize, store, and manage trading partner documents and transactions, by providing business document repositories. In addition, setting up mailboxes within Sterling B2B Integrator can also facilitate how you stage and schedule data transmissions, making the storage and retrieval of files more transparent to all parties—senders and recipients alike.
Scenario 1 - Use Sterling Connect:Direct to Copy a File to a Sterling B2B Integrator Mailbox
This scenario describes how to copy a file from a Sterling Connect:Direct server (PNODE) to a Sterling Connect:Direct Server Adapter (SNODE). The Connect:Direct Server Adapter passes this file to a Sterling B2B Integrator Mailbox.
Scenario 2 - Use Sterling Connect:Direct to Copy a File to a Sterling B2B Integrator Business Process
This scenario describes how to use Sterling Connect:Direct to copy a file to Sterling B2B Integrator. In this scenario, the Sterling Connect:Direct server is the PNODE and the Sterling Connect:Direct Server Adapter is the SNODE. The Connect:Direct Server Adapter receives the file and passes it to a business process.
Scenario 3 - Use Sterling Connect:Direct to Pull a File from Sterling B2B Integrator
This scenario describes how to pull a file from a Sterling Connect:Direct Server Adapter (SNODE) using the Sterling Connect:Direct node (PNODE). The Sterling Connect:Direct node connects to the Sterling Connect:Direct Server Adapter which invokes a business process. This business process passes a document back to the Connect:Direct Server Adapter which sends the file back to the Sterling Connect:Direct node.
Scenario 4 - Use Sterling B2B Integrator to Copy a File to Sterling Connect:Direct
This scenario describes how to copy a file from Sterling B2B Integrator to Sterling Connect:Direct. The Sterling B2B Integrator business process passes a document to the Connect:Direct Server Adapter (PNODE) which copies the file to the Sterling Connect:Direct node (SNODE). The business process functions much like a Sterling Connect:Direct process.
Scenario 5 - Use Sterling B2B Integrator to Copy a File from Sterling Connect:Direct
This scenario describes how to use Sterling B2B Integrator to copy a file from Sterling Connect:Direct. The Sterling B2B Integrator business process invokes the Connect:Direct Server Adapter (PNODE) which copies the file from the Sterling Connect:Direct node (SNODE) and passes it back to the business process. The business process functions much like a Sterling Connect:Direct process.
Scenario 6 - Add Error Handling to a Sterling B2B Integrator Business Process
This scenario describes how to add error handling to an existing Sterling B2B Integrator business process. The business process passes a document to the Connect:Direct Server Adapter (PNODE) which copies the file to the Sterling Connect:Direct node (SNODE). The error handling ensures that the Sterling Connect:Direct session closes if an error is encountered during the session.
Scenario 7 - Add Sterling Connect:Direct Secure Plus
IBM Sterling Connect:Direct Secure Plus provides enhanced security for Sterling Connect:Direct and Sterling Connect:Direct Server Adapter. When you enable Sterling Connect:Direct Secure Plus, the files are encrypted during transfer. This scenario describes how to configure the Sterling Connect:Direct Server Adapter to work with Sterling Connect:Direct Secure Plus to enable encrypted file transfers.
Scenario 8 - Use Sterling B2B Integrator to Submit a Sterling Connect:Direct Process
This scenario describes how to modify the Sterling B2B Integrator business process to submit a process on the Sterling Connect:Direct node after the file is copied. The Sterling Connect:Direct process copies the file received from Sterling B2B Integrator to a z/OS system.
Scenario 9 - Use Sterling B2B Integrator to Start a Sterling Connect:Direct Run Job
This scenario describes how to modify the Sterling B2B Integrator business process to start a program on the Sterling Connect:Direct server using a Run Job after a file is copied. The Connect:Direct Server Adapter does not verify the validity of the submitted program and does not wait for the submitted job to complete. The program runs as a separate process.
Scenario 10 - Use Sterling B2B Integrator to Start a Sterling Connect:Direct Run Task
This scenario describes how to modify your Sterling B2B Integrator business process to start and wait on a program on the Sterling Connect:Direct server via a Run Task after the source file is copied. The program may be a program or script. The Connect:Direct Server Adapter does not verify the validity of the submitted program, but it does wait for the submitted job to complete before moving to the next service in the business process. The program or script runs as a separate process.
Scenario 11 - Hide the Sterling Connect:Direct Password in the Business Process
This scenario describes how to hide the value of the user password in your business process. Modify your Sterling B2B Integrator business process by adding an Obscure Data - Process Data Values Service before the CD Server Begin Session Service.
Use Custom Translation Tables
cdinterop-xlate.properties is introduced in Sterling B2B Integrator and used to introduce custom translation tables. Each entry in this file associates a table name with a path to a file defining a translation table.
Copy Options
There are many copy options available when you use the Connect:Direct Server CopyTo Service.
Considerations when Grouping Connect:Direct Server Adapters
Monitoring Business Processes and Documents
The Sterling B2B Integrator Admin Console enables you to view information about business processes that interact with remote Sterling Connect:Direct nodes. Correlation records are automatically maintained so that you can search for specific information (such as, business process IDs, document IDs, workflow IDs, and mailbox IDs). Each business process references a unique business process ID as its primary process identifier.
Session Establishment and Process Recovery
Sterling B2B Integrator provides several parameters that allow you to customize features that govern how many sessions it establishes for a Connect:Direct Server Adapter node and remote Sterling Connect:Direct nodes and how it performs retry processing in the case of a failed or interrupted file transfer.
Troubleshooting
Sterling B2B Integrator and Sterling Connect:Direct are designed to work together, in a seamless and tightly integrated environment. However, as is the case with any application, occasions may occur when you need to troubleshoot certain components or functions.
Use Secure Point of Entry
Secure Point of Entry (SPOE) is a security mechanism for maintaining the privacy of sensitive user account information. Privacy is maintained by associating a pseudo-account with an authentic one. Remote Sterling Connect:Direct trading partners establish sessions using pseudo-accounts rather than authentic ones. In this way, sensitive user account information remains private. The cdinterop-spoe-policy.properties file describes settings for configuring the Secure Point-of-Entry (SPOE) for use with the Connect:Direct Server Adapter for inbound requests from remote Sterling Connect:Direct PNODEs.