Systems management concepts

HTTP and HTTPS servers

Part of the infrastructure that you must set up to support exchanging data with partners is to define the base HTTP and HTTPS servers. An HTTP or HTTPS server is an endpoint that is associated with a receiver that is used to receive messages from a trading partner.

Retry policies

Retry policies define the options and course of action that the system takes when an exchange must be retransmitted to a partner.

Thread pools

The thread pool management interface uses thread pools to optimize when and how tasks are run. For example, you can create a new thread pool to use for one specific high-volume trading partner.

Canonicalization

Canonicalization is a process for converting data that has more than one physical representation into a standard format that is known as Canonical XML. XML canonicalization (c14n) of an XML document defines the physical changes that can be made to the document without changing the logical representation of the document. Use canonicalization when you use an XML digital signature.

In B2B Advanced Communications you can select an appropriate c14n algorithm so information is canonicalized based on this algorithm. Digital signatures require that the contents covered by the signature must be identical when the signature is applied and verified. Otherwise, the digital signature is invalid. However, slight changes to the signed XML fragments are tolerable, if the message contents are identical from the perspective of an XML parser. For example, if you add XML comments or spaces between element attributes, these changes are not significant to an XML parser. And, these types of minor modifications do not immediately invalidate the signature.

Canonicalization is defined by the XML Signature specification as a set of operations on the signed XML contents before signature application or verification. The canonicalization hides irrelevant character-level modifications of the underlying XML document. You can also select content types that are excluded from canonicalization.

User profiles and groups

A user is an individual who uses B2B Advanced Communications. Each user of B2B Advanced Communications is defined by a unique user profile that identifies their user authentication credentials and scope of authority.

The user profile is a user account definition that contains a set of attributes that describe a person within the system. The specific information that is contained in the user profile is defined and managed by the system administrator. The user profile also defines user permissions, which are a method of providing users with entitlements to the B2B Advanced Communications resources. These permissions determine which resources are provisioned for a user or a set of users who share similar responsibilities.

The user permissions are assigned by selecting the group or groups for which the user is a member. Groups are collections of permissions. Each group references a user category, which has a related set of default permissions and operations, and views that the user can access. When users are assigned to a group, the managed resources available to that group then become available to those users. Groups make it possible to maintain access permissions for several users from a single place. Groups help to minimize the amount of work involved with maintaining accounts, especially when several users perform the same job function.