Validating and Testing Connections by Session

To validate and test a connection between two business partners, follow this general procedure. After you confirm that the secure connection has been established and that you can change your default security settings for a session, you can finalize the settings in the Connect:Direct® Secure Plus parameter file of each business partner, save the files, and begin transferring data.
  1. For the selected protocol, make sure all prerequisites outside of Connect:Direct Secure Plus have been taken care of, such as the obtaining of server certificates and exchanging of keys.
  2. Make sure each node is defined in the partner's network map.
  3. For both the local and remote nodes, specify the protocol to be used when a secure connection is required (TLS or SSL).
  4. For the selected protocol, make sure to define all settings required for a successful connection in the local and remote node records in the parameter files.
  5. Perform the procedures in this chapter, namely, Saving and Submitting the Connect:Direct Secure Plus Parameter File, and Preparing IBM Connect:Direct for Secure Plus Operations.
  6. To test the connection, perform a file transfer between the two partners.

    Once you have successfully performed a file transfer using a secure connection, you are ready to finalize the parameter files.

  7. Take one of the following actions, depending on whether you want to make your sessions default to secure or non-secure:
    • To have your sessions default to secure, specify OVERRIDE=Y in both the local and remote node records in the parameter files of both business partners.
    • To have your sessions default to non-secure, specify OVERRIDE=Y in both the local and remote node records in the parameter files of both business partners. Disable the selected protocol in the remote node record.
  8. To test changing your security defaults for a session, take one of the following actions depending on whether you want to make your sessions default to secure or non-secure. For a complete description of the SECURE parameter and how to use it in the PROCESS statement, see the IBM® Connect:Direct Process Language Reference Guide. Also, see Security Settings Override Examples.
    • To make a session non-secure, specify SECURE=OFF in the PROCESS statement preceding the COPY statement to transfer the file.
    • To make a session secure, specify SECURE=OFF|SSL|TLS|TLS11|TLS12|TLS13 in the PROCESS statement.
    Note: Support for SSL, TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 will be removed in future release
  9. After you validate and test your connections by session, save the parameter files and restart IBM Connect:Direct.