Add or modify a PeSIT application pickup (polling client)

Add a PeSIT application pickup (polling client)

Use this procedure to add an application pickup for polling a back-end PeSIT server.

Unlike embedded server application pickups, each polling application pickup is dedicated to a single specific community. That is because PeSIT exposes the caller and the server identity in every polling connection.

Prerequisite

You must have a community. If you need to add a community, see Add a community.

Procedure

1. In the user interface, select Trading configuration > Manage trading configuration.
2. From the list of communities, click the name of a community to display the Summary page for that community.
3. Click Application pickup in the navigation graphic to open the Application pickup exchanges page.
4. Click Add an application pickup exchange.
5. Choose the transport protocol PeSIT and click Next.
6. Select the From address and To address that match your needs. These pages are common to all application pickup exchanges.
7. Select Define a new PeSIT polling client and click Next.
8. Complete the fields of the Configure the PeSIT client settings page.
9. • Hostname – Enter the IP address or the network name of the back-end PeSIT server to poll.
   • Port – Enter the Port on which the back-end PeSIT server listens.
   • Community settings (caller) – These fields determine the identity the caller uses to poll the back-end server.
     • PeSIT Identifier (PI3) – Use the Pick requester ID button to select the community routing ID to use as the caller ID.
     • Use password – Use this option to enter a password if the back-end server expects one.
   • Server settings
     • PeSIT Identifier – Enter the PeSIT PI4 server ID of the back-end server.
     • Use password – Select this option if you want the server to provide a password to connect to your community. Enter the required password.
   • File name (PI12) – Enter the name of the file you want to poll from the server. Use a wildcard character (*) at the end of a character string to select all files starting with those characters.
   • Clients must use SSL to connect to this server – Select this option if the back-end server is configured for exchanges over SSL/TLS. You must import the root certificate of the remote server to your community’s trusted SSL root certificates.
     • Enable host name verification – If you select this option, verifies that the name of the server is the same as the name in the server’s certificate. If you don’t select this option, Activator only verifies that the server certificate is signed by a certificate that is included in the community trusted SSL root certificates.
     • Enable CFT compatibility
     • When selected, aligns the PeSIT record size on TLS packets. This is the only method handled by Transfer CFT until version 3.0, and the default method for Gateway and Interpel.
     • When unselected, adds the record size as a header of the record, as for non TLS communications. This is the default, which is recommended.
9.  Enter a name for the exchange to identify it in the user interface. Hint: Enter a name that is easily identifiable in a list of exchanges in the user interface.
10. Click Finish.

Modify a PeSIT application pickup (polling client)

When you add an application pickup, the wizard prompts you to provide a basic set of parameters. After you create the pickup you can open the maintenance page to view and manage a comprehensive set of parameters for the pickup. Some of these parameters were automatically set when you added the object, and can only be modified after you add the object.

Because the polling pickup must expose its identity to the polled server, it must be linked to a community.

1. In the user interface, select Trading configuration > Manage trading configuration.
2. From the list of communities, click the name of a community to display the Summary page for that community.
3. Click Application pickup in the navigation graphic to open the Application pickup exchanges page.
4. From the list of available exchanges, click the name of a PeSIT exchange to open the maintenance page for that exchange.
5. View and modify fields as required. The fields are described in the following section.

PeSIT application pickup maintenance fields

PeSIT settings tab

• Hostname –The IP address or the network name of the back-end PeSIT server to poll.
• Port – Enter the Port on which the back-end PeSIT server listens.
• Clients must use SSL to connect to this server – Select this option If the back-end server is configured to transfer over SSL/TLS. You must import the root certificate of the remote server to the community trusted SSL root certificates.
  • Enable host name verification – If you select this option, Activator verifies that the name of the server is the same as the name in the server’s certificate. This requires that you import the server certificate chain in the community's personal certificates and then select the option Trust this for SSL server and/or client authentication. Activator automatically adds the root certificate to the linked community's trusted SSL root certificates.
  • If you don’t select this option, Activator only verifies that the server certificate is signed by a certificate that is among the community trusted SSL root certificates.
  • Enable CFT compatibility – When you select this option, aligns the PeSIT record size on TLS packets. This is the only method handled by Axway Transfer CFT before version 3.0, and is the default method for the Axway products Gateway and Interpel.
  • If you do not select this option, adds the record size as a header of the record, as for non TLS communications. This is the default and the recommended handling (when the remote application supports it).
• Community settings (caller) – These fields determine the identity that uses to poll the back-end server.
  • PeSIT Identifier (PI3) – Use the Pick requester ID button to select the community for which the polling is done, and then select the routing ID to use as the caller identifier
  • Use password – Select this option if the back-end server expects you to provide a connection password. Enter your password to connect to the back-end server.
• Server settings
  • PeSIT Identifier (PI4) – Enter the PeSIT PI4 ID of the back-end server.
  • Use password – Select this option if you want the server to provide a password to connect to your community. Enter the required password.
• Acknowledge each fetched file - Select this option if the polled back-end server expects an acknowledgment for each file fetched.
• Select a community and the URL of the PeSIT delivery to use to send the acknowledgment.
• Select the same community and the delivery that matches the server to poll. Alternatively, you can select another community for special use (for example, 3rd party monitoring).

PeSIT polling parameters tab

Use this tab to set the parameters for the PeSIT SELECT polling command.

This tab is identical for PeSIT application and trading polling pickup exchanges.

• File name (PI12) – Mask of the files to poll. For example, enter "test" to poll only the files named “test”. You can use the wildcard character at the end of any character string. For example, enter "test*" to poll all files that begin with the string "test", including "test1', test_myTest", and so on.
• File type (PI11) – Leave this value to 0, except if it has a special meaning for the remote server. Check this setting with the remote PeSIT server administrator.
• Compression (PI21) – This compression option applies to the polled file, not on the request.
  • None (0) – (default) No compression.
  • Horizontal (1) – Compresses the consecutive identical characters in the records.
  • Vertical (2) – Records are compared to one another and the consecutive identical columns are compressed.
  • Both (3) – Combination of the above two compression methods.
• If pesit.compressionType.out is set in the message, at runtime it overrides the value you select in this UI field (the attribute uses the numeric value).
• Note: The compression is negotiated between the caller and the server. If the server can’t handle the compression set in this field, a lower type of compression or no compression is applied.
• Priority (PI17) – In most cases, you can accept the default value (medium). Check with the remote server administrator to know if you can make use of this setting. As a server, Activator ignores the priority and handles every request at the same level.
  • High (0) – Highest priority
  • Medium (1) – Default
  • Low (2) – Lowest priority
• Free text (PI99) – Free text often used to transfer metadata. In most cases, you can leave this field blank, unless the server makes a special use of it. Check with the remote server administrator to know if you can make use of this setting.
• Maximum length = 4096 characters.

Advanced tab

• Max data unit size in bytes (PI25): The largest of chunk of data, in bytes, to be transferred at one time. For high-speed networks, use the default 32700 bytes. This value is related to the client setting for record length on the PeSIT parameters tab. The value of this field must be the same or larger than the value of the record length field. Do not change this value unless advised by the administrator of the back-end PeSIT application you are trading with.
• Synchronization option (PI7):
  • Intervals between sync points (Kbytes): Each time an amount of data equal to this value has been sent, the client is expected to ask the server to confirm whether data totaling this value has been received. The server responds optionally with a confirmation. This represents a check point in the progress of a file transfer. If a connection is lost before a file transfer has been completed, the transfer resumes, upon restart of the transport, at the point of the last successful check point. The default value is 1024 kilobytes (1 megabyte). Do not change this value unless advised by the administrator of the PeSIT component. This corresponds to pacing in Axway Transfer CFT.
  • Sync acknowledgement window: The number of check point cycles that the client waits for the server to respond to a request to confirm file-transfer progress. For example, if the value of Kb per sync point (pacing) is 1024 (1 megabyte) and the value of this field is 1, the client stops sending data after 1024 kilobytes unless the server responds, although the transfer remains active. If this value is 2, the client keeps sending until 2 megabytes (1024 x 2) of data are sent, and so on. If the client’s value for this field is 0 (zero), the client does not ask the server to confirm at intervals the amount of data received. If the server’s value for this field is 0, the server does not send confirmations at intervals of data received. The default value is 3. Do not change this value unless advised by the administrator of the PeSIT component. This corresponds to chkw in Axway Transfer CFT.
• Read timeout (seconds) – Time in seconds Activator waits to read data from the pickup before terminating the connection.
• Connection timeout (seconds) – Time in seconds Activator waits for a connection to the delivery exchange before the attempt times out. Although the default value is 30 seconds, this may be longer than the interval allowed by your operating system (OS). For example, Windows XP by default allows a maximum timeout of 20 seconds. The actual connect timeout interval is the lesser of the OS timeout and the value set in Activator.
• Transfer timeout - caller mode (seconds) – Time in seconds a transfer times out.
• Network timeout (seconds) – Time in seconds the network times out.
• Protocol timeout (seconds) – Time in seconds the protocol times out.
• 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. 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 are needed to resubmit messages to applications or resend messages to partners.
• Restrict maximum file size for this transport – Optionally specify the maximum size of files a transport can handle. If Activator receives a file larger than the maximum, the file is rejected and a message is written to the events log. If received via HTTP, a 413 response also is sent and the connection is closed. A 413 message is Request Entity Too Large. The maximum size must be expressed in bytes. Do not use commas. For instance, a kilobyte is 1024 bytes, a megabyte is 1048576 bytes, a gigabyte is 1073741824 bytes. The smallest maximum allowed is 1000 bytes. On the opposite extreme, you can enter the largest number the field can accommodate. This control is available only for transports used for picking up messages from integration or receiving messages from partners.
• Maximum files per polling interval – The highest number of messages the system can retrieve each time it polls.
• Polling interval – The interval, in seconds, Activator waits before polling for messages to retrieve.
• Specify preferred nodes – If there are one or more nodes for Activator, you can select one or more as the preferred nodes for consuming messages. If the preferred nodes are running, these are used to process messages. If the preferred nodes are stopped, work is distributed among the remaining running available nodes. Selecting preferred nodes lets you manage work distribution among nodes.