PassPort interoperation with Gateway
When you have configured Gateway to interoperate with PassPort partner management services and PassPort security, Gateway is able to dynamically retrieve the values that it needs to complete its local configuration and connect with a trading partner. Gateway checks two specific elements in PassPort to complete the local configuration:
In the Axway 5 Suite, PassPort is responsible for providing information about local and remote partners and about the characteristics of exchanges that Gateway can perform with those partners. Additionally, PassPort provides certificate and key management for message exchanges with remote partners.
PassPort stores the following partner-related information for use in exchanges:
PassPort enables you to configure and centralize the definition of all trading partners in a single repository. The partner information stored in the repository facilitates business to business partnerships and transactions, and enables you to share this information among Axway products.
Axway Gateway is a communication gateway. It provides a secure front end for handling data exchange between partners that are connected via public networks such as the Internet and your own Information System. It supports a wide range of open standard protocols.
Gateway enables routing between any of the protocols that it supports.
Gateway is a client/server application. As a server, Gateway can make files available to client applications and provide the means for clients to transfer files. As a client, Gateway can access the services provided by other network servers.
To exchange files in client mode, Gateway requires a complete description (including network parameters such as IP address and SAP) of the connection partner and the file exchange process.
However, when multiple client stations exist, the task of redefining a new Remote Site for each and every file exchange partner may become long and time-consuming. Gateway provides the dynamic site creation feature that enables you to accelerate the site definition process and exchange files with unrecognized client stations.
When you submit a Transfer Request for which no defined Remote Site exists, Gateway dynamically creates a site that is based on one of the Template Sites provided with the product. A Template Site is like any Remote Site, but some of its protocol and network attributes remain empty.
When Gateway dynamically creates a Site, the lifetime of the Site continues as long as there is a reference to the Site in an active Request or in one of the records contained in the Mailbox (repository of transfer records). If no Requests or Request records are associated with this Site at the end of the session, Gateway automatically deletes the dynamic Site.
Gateway automatically creates several Template Sites when you install the product.
Axway Gateway provides a set of Template Sites for generic access to servers that it can user when configured with PassPort PM:
At the protocol connection level, when you configure Gateway to use PassPort partner management services, to create a connection, Gateway checks whether a Template Site is specified. If the connection requires the use of a Template Site, Gateway:
When Gateway receives a message from a Remote Partner, it retrieves Partner identification attributes and protocol definitions from PassPort that enable it to authenticate the initiating Partner and to handle the incoming transfer in the correct manner.
When Gateway handles an outgoing message, a file, or an acknowledgement towards a remote partner, it retrieves identification attributes and protocol definitions from PassPort that enable it to authenticate the destination partner and apply the correct parameters for the transfer, such as security and compression definitions.
When using PassPort PM, Gateway saves the results of queries in specific Site objects called Virtual Sites. These Virtual Sites save PassPort from being queried all the time by Gateway.
Virtual Sites have a tunable lifetime controlled by the vsite_age_max parameter. Setting a long lifetime reduces the number of queries to PassPort resulting in shorter processing times. However, during that time any change made in the related PassPort entry is not refreshed. On the other hand, having a short vsite_age_max value allows quicker updates of PassPort modifications within Gateway, but with diminished performance.
Partner management services via PassPort: General implementation procedure