Add or modify an MLLP application delivery

About application deliveries for MLLP

An application delivery is an object that specifies how you want your local community to send messages to a back-end application. This topic describes how to create an application delivery for sending client requests to a back-end MLLP server application.

Add an MLLP application delivery

Prerequisites

The application delivery resides in a community object. Before you add an application delivery you must add a community to represent the MLLP client. See Add a community.

Procedure

1. In the user interface, select Trading configuration > Manage trading configuration to open the Communities page.
2. Select the community you want to use to represent the MLLP client.
3. On the community map of the community summary page, click the Application delivery icon.
4. On the Application deliveries page, click Add an application delivery.
5. On the Choose transport protocol page, select MLLP and click Next.
6. On the Configure the MLLP settings page, complete the fields:
7. On the Configure the MLLP settings page, complete the fields:
   • MLLP server – Enter the address of the MLLP server to which you are connecting.
   • Port – Enter the server port for MLLP connections.
   • Client must use TLS to connect to this server – Select this option if TLS is required for the client connection to the MLLP server.
   • Enable host name verification – If you require TLS use for connection to the server, you can optionally select this additional security feature.
8. On the Configure the file system settings page / Directory name field– Use the Browse button or type the full path for a unique directory where Activator routes messages. If the directory does not exist, Activator creates it for you. Use a unique directory name. The delivery exchange wizard suggests a name that you may use or modify.
9. On the Exchange name page, enter a name for the application delivery.
10. Click Finish.

Modify an MLLP application delivery

After you create an MLLP application delivery, you can view and modify the fields that define the delivery.

File system settings tab

• Directory name – Use the Browse button or type the full path for a unique directory where Activator routes messages. If the directory does not exist, Activator creates it for you. Use a unique directory name.

Filenames tab

Delivery file name definition

• Preserve original filenames – (default) Select this option if you want the original file names to be preserved when Activator delivers messages.
• Preserving original file names enables your back-end application to process binary messages based on their file names.
• Generate unique filenames – Select this option to have the system provide a unique file name (instead of using the original name).
  • Automatically generate unique filenames – Activator appends to the file name a hex representation of a monotonically increasing file name counter that is maintained in the database. Names are guaranteed to be unique. In addition, if the original file name had an extension, the same extension is appended to the unique name the system generates.
  • Example with the original file extension: dabeed45_4cb.edi
  • Example without the original file extension: z47e4120_4ce
  • Define custom filename construction – Activator generates a file name using a pattern that you specify. Enter the pattern in the Pattern field.

Duplicate file name handling

• Overwrite duplicate filenames – If Activator detects a duplicate file name, it overwrites the existing file, replacing it with the duplicate file.
• Sequentially number duplicate filenames – (default) When you select this option you must also select a name generation option:
  • Automatically generate unique filenames – (default) . If Activator detects a duplicate file name, it generates a sequentially numbered file name. Activator appends a number to the new file in the format: filename_c4.
  • Define custom filename construction – Activator generates a file name using a pattern that you specify. Enter the pattern in the Pattern field.
• Append to existing files – Append the duplicate file content to the content of the original file.

Message attributes tab

See Message attributes tab.

Schedule tab

See Schedule tab.

Advanced tab

• Retries – The number of times Activator retries connecting to the partner’s transport if the initial attempt to connect and send the message failed. The following are common reasons for triggering retries.
• • The connection attempt failed immediately for a reason such as host not found.
  • The host was found, but the connection process took longer than the connect timeout interval specified on the Advanced tab.
  • The connection was successful, but the partner’s HTTP server took longer than the response timeout interval to return a 200 OK response indicating the message was successfully received. A 200 OK response is a transport response, separate from a message protocol response such as an AS2 receipt.
• Note that in the last case, the 200 OK response also will include the receipt if synchronous receipts were requested. Otherwise, it will be a simple 200 OK response with no payload. And if an asynchronous receipt was requested, the partner will connect later to send it.
• Retries occur according to an algorithm that starts at 5 minutes. The interval between retries increases with each subsequent retry in this pattern: 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes. The interval plateaus at 60 minutes. This means if the retry value is greater than 5, the fifth and each subsequent retry occurs at 60 minute intervals.
• For example, if retries is 3, the system will try connecting again in 5 minutes if the initial connection attempt fails. If this retry attempt also fails, the system attempts a second retry in 10 minutes. The third retry attempt is made 15 minutes later. If the third retry attempt fails, the message is given a failed status. So after four attempts (the first attempt plus 3 retries), the message fails. You can search for and manually resubmit failed messages in Message Tracker.
• Retries do not occur precisely at these intervals because each connection attempt takes some seconds, which varies by computer. So retries actually occur after the connection attempt time plus the interval.
• This control applies only to retrying to send messages, not receiving. It applies only to retrying to send related to transport issues. It does not apply to successfully sent messages for which receipts have not been received as expected. Another control, resends, determines how many times the system will resend a message when a receipt is not received from the partner. For information about resends, see reliable messaging in the collaboration settings chapter.

• Back up the files that go through this transport – Indicates whether the system backs up copies of the messages it retrieves from integration or receives from partners.
• Backing up files is strongly recommended. This is required for the system to perform fail-over operations such as attempting to send messages again (retries) in case of a transport connection failure. Without backups, a message in process cannot be recovered if the server stops or restarts. Backups also are needed if you want the ability to resubmit messages to back-end applications or resend messages to partners. Backup files are stored in \<install directory>\common\data\backup, unless you specify otherwise.
• Post-processing script – The full path to an executable file that contains post-processing commands.

Related topics

• MLLP
• Add or modify an MLLP application pickup
• Add or modify an MLLP trading delivery
• Add or modify an MLLP trading pickup
• MLLP (embedded) fields