Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved


Chapter 10 FTP and FTPS Transports : FTP Transport Overview

FTP Transport Overview
TIBCO BusinessConnect supports FTP transport, which enables users to send or receive large documents by connecting to the trading partner's FTP server. It uses a store and retrieve mechanism of putting and getting files from the trading partner's FTP server. In some cases, a trading partner requires that the exchange of document happen securely so that the integrity of the transmission is not compromised. To accommodate this, TIBCO BusinessConnect provides different ways of sending files through FTP transport.
To understand and set up FTP operations, review the following:
A responding partner that receives FTP put operations must specify an FTP server to receive the Initiator’s FTP files. This server name and directory must match the URL specified in the preceding step. The responding TIBCO BusinessConnect uses a poller to monitor that location.
A partner that receives FTP put operations from an Initiator must specify the directory into which it places its response.
If you use asynchronous request-response, you can mix HTTP, HTTPS, Email, and FTP. For example, you can send an asynchronous request document using FTP and the Responder can use HTTP. You are responsible for monitoring the directory on the FTP external server and removing files as needed.
Explicit and Implicit FTPS Connections
TIBCO BusinessConnect supports FTPS in explicit mode, which means that the BusinessConnect server assumes it is configured to connect to the security enabled FTP server's standard FTP port (usually TCP port 21). On this port, it negotiates security properties by issuing an AUTH SSL or AUTH TLS command (as per the transport's configuration), made on the server's admin GUI and the corresponding specifications (see specification RFC2228). Implicit FTPS connections (usually for connecting to TCP port 990) are not supported.
Supported File Mask Options
The supported file mask options for file names using FTP/S, SSHFTP, and File transports are as follows:
Example:
My-#(YYYY)-#(MMM)-#(DD)-#(HH)-#(MN)-#(SS)-#(NN)-#(OperationID)-file.txt
will print:
My-2013-Apr-17-14-01-45-093-BC_1.0_Notify-file.txt
FTP/S Inbound
A host uses the FTP and FTPS inbound transports to periodically retrieve messages from one or more trading partners’ FTP servers. This is in contrast to FTP outbound, which allows a host to send messages to a partner.
There are two ways that you can use FTP/S to get files from the FTP server of a trading partner:
FTP inbound operations use the temporary local file storage, such as BC_HOME\tmp\protocol\tpName.
The files in the temporary directory are either moved to a permanent storage directory or are removed from the local file system after TIBCO BusinessConnect processes the file contents.
The permanent storage location is determined by the value set in the Shared Temporary Location field, which you can locate using TIBCO Administrator as follows:
1.
Expand Application Management > BusinessConnect > Configuration.
2.
Click the BusinessConnect link in the right panel.
3.
FTP transfers over the Internet are not secure because intruders can look at the data transfer and even modify the commands or data before they reach their intended trading partner. To avoid that, use FTPS inbound, which is an FTP inbound transport over a secure connection. The FTP server and the FTP client, in this case TIBCO BusinessConnect, exchange certificates and create a secure, encrypted connection before sending or receiving data or FTP commands.
Before configuring FTPS inbound, you must set up a certificates file for the trading partner and a key for the trading host.
For information about how FTP interacts with EDI-Gateway, see TIBCO BusinessConnect EDI Protocol powered by Instream Gateway Configuration.
FTP/S Outbound
The FTP and FTPS outbound transports are used for storing files on the trading partner's FTP server. You can configure FTP outbound transport to perform the following operations:
FTP transfers over the Internet are not secure because intruders can look at the data transfer and even modify the commands or data before they reach their intended trading partner.
FTPS outbound is an FTP outbound transport over a secure connection. The FTP server and the FTP client, in this case TIBCO BusinessConnect, exchange certificates and create a secure, encrypted connection before sending or receiving data or FTP commands.
Before configuring FTPS, you must set up a certificates file for the trading partner.

Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved