AS2 Message Settings#

Introduction#

An as2 location defines the message settings and processing rules used to send AS2 messages. It pairs a local profile with a trading partner profile and configures encryption, signatures, compression, and MDN handling. This page documents these AS2 message settings.

Transfers handle the actual movement of messages: they define which files to send, when to send them, and which destination location to use. The AS2 Profiles page covers local identities and trading partner settings, including AS2 identifiers, certificates, receiving URLs, and connection credentials.

For more information about how to implement AS2 based transfers, see the separate documentation page for implementing AS2 based transfers.

The AS2 protocol can use HTTP or HTTPS (secure) connections.

Note

The as2 location can only be used as the destination for a transfer, only for sending files over AS2. If you need to receive files over the AS2 protocol, you will need to configure the HTTP file transfer service.

Unlike a typical web browser connection, to protect an AS2 HTTPS connection you will have to explicitly configure the list of trusted CAs and the location of the CRLs on the partner profile.

name#

Default value:

Empty

Optional:

No

From version:

2.8.0

Values:

  • Any text.

Description:

Human-readable short text used to identify this location.

description#

Default value:

Empty

Optional:

Yes

From version:

2.8.0

Values:

  • Any text.

Description:

Human-readable text that describes the purpose of this location.

type#

Default value:

''

Optional:

No

From version:

2.6.0

Values:

  • filesystem - Local file system.

  • sftp - SFTP protocol v3 over SSH v2.

  • ftp - FTP protocol without any encryption.

  • ftpse - Explicit FTPS protocol.

  • ftpsi - Implicit FTPS protocol.

  • smb - SMB / Windows Share

  • as2 - AS2 over HTTP or HTTPS

  • azure-file - Azure File Service.

  • azure-blob - Azure BLOB Storage.

  • sharepoint-online - SharePoint via MS Graph API.

  • oracle-database - Oracle Database.

  • exchange-online - Microsoft Exchange Online.

  • http-pull - HTTP or HTTPS for pulling files.

  • smtp - SMTP protocol for sending emails.

  • webdavs - WebDAV over HTTPS.

Description:

This option specifies the type of the location. Each type has a set of specific configuration options

idle_connection_timeout#

Default value:

300

Optional:

Yes

From version:

3.0.0

Values:

  • Number of seconds

  • 0

Description:

This controls the automatic disconnection from the remote server after the location has not received any file transfer operation requests for the configured number of seconds.

Keep-alive command requests are not counted as file transfer operations. The connection gets automatically disconnected if keep-alive is the only command requested in the configured interval.

Disconnected locations automatically reconnect when a new file transfer operation request is made. For example, when a new file needs to be transferred to the remote server.

If the remote peer closes the connection before the configured timeout, the connection is left closed. It gets automatically reconnected when a new file transfer operation is requested.

Set to 0 to always keep the connection active, by forcing re-connection when the remote server closes the connection.

Note

The idle_connection_timeout is the maximum number of seconds before closing an idle connection to the server. If the remote server decides that the connection is idle and closes the connection, SFTPPlus doesn't try to "challenge" the server, leaving the connection closed. The connection is automatically reopened next time a file needs to be transferred.

idle_connection_keepalive_interval#

Default value:

0

Optional:

Yes

From version:

3.0.0

Values:

  • Number of seconds

Description:

Send a keep-alive command every N seconds to avoid having the connection disconnected by the other peer due to inactivity.

Set to 0 to disable keep-alive commands.

The keep-alive command does not reset the idle connection timeout,

connection_retry_count#

Default value:

12

Optional:

Yes

From version:

3.9.0

Values:

  • Number of retries

Description:

Number of times to retry connection to the location, when the initial connection fails.

Set to 0 to not retry.

When the connection still fails after all the retries, the location is marked as failed and no re-connections or transfers are attempted. An administrator needs to review the error, fix the issue, and manually restart the location.

connection_retry_interval#

Default value:

300

Optional:

Yes

From version:

3.9.0

Values:

  • Number of seconds

Description:

Number of seconds to wait between connection attempts.

Set to 0 to retry right away without any delay.

as2_local_profile#

Default value:

Empty

Optional:

No

From version:

6.3.0

Values:

UUID of an as2-local profile

Description:

Local identity and signing certificate used by this location. The selected profile must be enabled. See AS2 Profiles.

as2_remote_profile#

Default value:

Empty

Optional:

No

From version:

6.3.0

Values:

UUID of an as2-partner profile

Description:

Partner identity, receiving URL, HTTP credentials, and TLS settings. The selected profile must be enabled. See AS2 Profiles.

as2_send_security#

Default value:

'signed-and-encrypted'

Optional:

yes

From version:

4.5.0

Values:

  • signed-and-encrypted

  • signed

  • encrypted

  • disabled

Description:

This defines the method used to secure the file transfers on top of the standard security provided by the HTTPS protocol.

When encrypting file content, the first certificate defined at trusted_certificates on the partner profile is used.

When signing file content, the digest/hashing algorithm defined in as2_signature_algorithm is used.

When defined as disabled, files are sent unsigned and unencrypted.

as2_mdn_receipt#

Default value:

'sync-signed'

Optional:

yes

From version:

4.5.0

Values:

  • sync-signed

  • sync-unsigned

  • async-signed

  • async-unsigned

  • disabled

Description:

This defines the method used to request the message disposition notifications (MDN) receipt.

When requesting a signed MDN, it will make the request using the digest/hashing algorithm defined in as2_signature_algorithm.

When asynchronous MDN is enabled, you will need to set the as2_async_mdn_url and as2_async_mdn_server_uuid configuration options.

When defined as disabled, it will not request an MDN receipt.

as2_encryption_algorithm#

Default value:

'aes256'

Optional:

yes

From version:

4.5.0

Values:

  • 3des

  • aes128

  • aes192

  • aes256

Description:

Symmetric encryption algorithm used to encrypt sent files.

All algorithms use the Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode and PKCS#1 v1.5 padding.

as2_signature_algorithm#

Default value:

'sha256'

Optional:

yes

From version:

4.5.0

Values:

  • md5

  • sha1

  • sha224

  • sha256

  • sha348

  • sha512

Description:

Digest / Hashing algorithm used when signing sent files and requesting the MDN receipt.

as2_compressed#

Default value:

no

Optional:

Yes

From version:

5.6.0

Values:

  • yes

  • no

Description:

Whether the file to be sent is automatically compressed during the transfer.

Enabling the compression will increase CPU usage, while it might reduce the size of the data that is transferred over the network.

as2_content_type#

Default value:

'application/octet-stream'

Optional:

Yes

From version:

4.5.0

Values:

  • MIME content type

Description:

MIME content type used when sending AS2 files.

as2_async_mdn_server_uuid#

Default value:

Empty

Optional:

Yes

From version:

5.6.0

Values:

  • service UUID

  • empty

Description:

The UUID of the HTTP/HTTPS server that will receive the asynchronous MDN messages, on behalf of this AS2 client location.

Leave it empty, if your transfers are using synchronous MDN.

as2_async_mdn_url#

Default value:

Empty

Optional:

Yes

From version:

5.6.0

Values:

  • text

  • empty

Description:

The public URL where the remote AS2 server should send back the asynchronous MDN message.

Leave it empty, if your transfers are using synchronous MDN.

as2_async_mdn_timeout#

Default value:

600

Optional:

Yes

From version:

5.6.0

Values:

  • Number of seconds

Description:

Number of seconds to wait for receiving the asynchronous MDN message.

The value must be greater than 0.

The maximum allowed value is 604800 seconds, or one week.