GISB Connector - CData Arc Documentation

GISB connectors support sending and receiving messages using the Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB) protocol.

Key Capabilities

GISB protocol support for energy sector B2B communications
Digital signature and encryption capabilities with key management
Receipt processing and acknowledgment handling for reliable delivery
Support for multiple GISB versions with configurable protocol options

Overview

A GISB connection is configured in two places. Configure the GISB Profiles page with a local GISB identifier, personal key, and other information that is global across all GISB connections. Then configure individual GISB connectors with connection settings specific to a single trading partner. When a GISB connector processes an input file, it is packaged and sent to the specified trading partner. When Arc receives a file over GISB, it attempts to route the file to a specific GISB connector. The application uses the GISB identifiers in the message to determine which GISB connector should receive the file. When a file is routed to a GISB connector, that file is placed on the connector’s Transactions tab, or is passed along to the next connector in the flow.

Profile Configuration

The GISB profile must be configured before connections can be established with individual GISB connectors. Click Profiles > GISB on the navbar.

GISB Profile Tab

Personal Id

Settings for identifying the local profile.

Setting	Description
GISB Identifier	Your GISB identifier. Messages sent by Arc include this value as the `GISB-From` header. Incoming messages must have this value as the `GISB-To` header to be successfully received. GISB Identifiers are case-sensitive.

Personal Key

Settings related to the private decryption and signature certificate.

Setting	Description
Secret Key	The key that is used to decrypt incoming messages and sign outgoing messages.
Passphrase	The password required to access the local secret key.

Application URLs

Settings and displayed values related to accessing Arc from the public web.

Setting	Description
Receiving URL	The URL at which Arc listens for incoming GISB messages. Share this URL with all your trading partners.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous settings are for specific use cases.

Setting	Description
Other Settings	Enables you to configure hidden connector settings in a semicolon-separated list (for example, `setting1=value1;setting2=value2`). Normal connector use cases and functionality should not require the use of these settings.

Connector Configuration

This section contains all of the configurable connector properties.

Settings Tab

Trading Partner Info

Settings for identifying and connecting to a specific trading partner.

Setting	Description
Connector Id	The static, unique identifier for the connector.
Connector Type	Displays the connector name and a description of what it does.
Connector Description	An optional field to provide a free-form description of the connector and its role in the flow.
GISB Identifier	The identifier specific to the target trading partner. This value is included in outgoing messages, and it is also used to route incoming messages to the appropriate GISB connector.
Partner URL	The trading partner’s public endpoint where outgoing messages should be sent.
GISB Version	The protocol version of the GISB client.

Connection Info

Settings related to connection parameters for the specified trading partner.

Setting	Description
Send Message Security	Whether to sign and/or encrypt outgoing messages. CData strongly recommends that you use signatures and encryption.
Receive Message Security	Whether to require that signatures and encryption are present for incoming messages. An error is thrown if a received message does not have a required security parameter.
Client Timeout	The length of time (in seconds) the connector waits for a connection response before throwing a timeout error.

Receipts

Settings related to sending and requesting message receipts.

Setting	Description
Security	Whether receipts should include a signature block verifying the message integrity and identity of the recipient.

Trading Partner Keys/Certificates

Settings related to the public certificates provided by the trading partner.

Setting	Description
Recipient Key Certificate	The public key used for encryption and signature verification. Use the Import Key button, then browse to the key to import.
TLS Server Certificate	The public certificate used to verify the identity of a TLS/SSL server. This is only necessary if the partner’s GISB system requires HTTPS instead of HTTP. If the trading partner does not provide a TLS server certificate, you can leave this setting blank to allow the underlying OS/JVM to perform certificate validation, or set it to `Any Certificate` to unconditionally trust the target server’s identity.

Advanced Tab

Alternate Local Profile

Settings that override the GISB configuration on the Profiles page for this specific GISB connector. Setting an alternate local profile allows the use of different local keys and identifiers for individual trading partners.

Setting	Description
Local GISB Identifier	Your GISB identifier.
Secret Key	The key that is used to decrypt incoming messages and sign outgoing messages.
Passphrase	The password required to access the local secret key.

TLS Client Authentication

Settings related to client authentication when two-way TLS authentication is required.

Setting	Description
Private Certificate	The private certificate presented during TLS client authentication.
Certificate Password	The password required to access the TLS client certificate.

HTTP Authentication

Settings related to HTTP client authentication.

Setting	Description
HTTP Authentication	Whether to use client HTTP authentication.
HTTP Authentication Type	Whether to provide HTTP authentication credentials in an encrypted format (Digest) or in plain text (Basic). Only use Basic authentication if the connection is an HTTPS connection (instead of HTTP).
User	The user credential for HTTP client authentication.
Password	The password credential for HTTP client authentication.

Proxy Settings

These are a collection of settings that identify and authenticate to the proxy through which the connection should be routed. By default, this section uses the global settings on the Proxy Settings portion of the Security Settings page. Clear the checkbox to supply settings specific to your connector.

Setting	Description
Proxy Type	The protocol used by a proxy-based firewall.
Proxy Host	The name or IP address of a proxy-based firewall.
Proxy Port	The TCP port for a proxy-based firewall.
Proxy User	The user name to use to authenticate with a proxy-based firewall.
Proxy Password	A password used to authenticate to a proxy-based firewall.
Authentication Scheme	Leave the default None or choose from one of the following authentication schemes: Basic, Digest, Proprietary, or NTLM.

Advanced Settings

Settings not included in the previous categories.

Setting	Description
Compression Method	The algorithm to use when compressing outgoing payloads.
EDI Type	The type of EDI message to use. The default is X12.
Encrypting Algorithm	The algorithm to use when encrypting outgoing messages.
Fold Headers	Check this to have the connector fold the headers if the headers are over a certain length.
Packet Type	Check this to have the connector read the features from the Recipient Key Certificate to determine if the older packet type is required. If the key requires the older packet type, it is used.
Sign and Encrypt	Check this to have the connector perform signing and encryption in the same step.
Signing Algorithm	The algorithm to use when signing outgoing messages.
TLS Enabled Protocols	The list of TLS/SSL protocols supported when establishing outgoing connections. Best practice is to only use TLS protocols. SSL v2 and SSL v3 are considered vulnerable and should only be used if your partner does not support higher versions. Keep in mind that TLS v1.3 is not universally adopted, and might be refused if the destination server does not support it.
Temp File	Check this to have the connector write data to be processed to a temp file, then move the temp file into processing after it has been fully written.
Local File Scheme	A scheme for assigning filenames to messages that are output by the connector. You can use macros in your filenames dynamically to include information such as identifiers and timestamps. For more information, see Macros.
Processing Delay	The amount of time (in seconds) by which the processing of files placed in the Transactions tab is delayed. This is a legacy setting. Best practice is to use a File connector to manage local file systems instead of this setting.

Message

Message settings determine how the connector searches for messages and manages them after processing.

Note: The settings below are deprecated and hidden by default. They appear only on connectors where they were previously enabled or configured to a non-default value. To retain copies of successfully processed files, right-click the connector in the flow, choose Show Success Path, and connect the success path to a File connector.

Setting	Description
Save to Sent Folder (Deprecated)	Copies files processed by the connector to the Sent folder. Disabled by default. Files saved to the Sent folder are not covered by Encryption at Rest.
Sent Folder Scheme (Deprecated)	Groups files in the Sent folder by the selected time interval. Only relevant when Save to Sent Folder is enabled.

Logging

Settings that govern the creation and storage of logs.

Setting	Description
Log Level	The verbosity of logs generated by the connector. When you request support, set this to Debug.
Log Subfolder Scheme	Instructs the connector to group files in the Logs folder according to the selected interval. The Weekly option (which is the default) instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all logs for the week in that folder. Leaving this setting blank tells the connector to save all logs directly in the Logs folder. For connectors that process many transactions, using subfolders helps keep logs organized and improves performance.
Log Messages	Check this to have the log entry for a processed file include a copy of the file itself. If you disable this, you might not be able to download a copy of the file from the Transactions tab.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous settings are for specific use cases.

Setting	Description
Other Settings	Enables you to configure hidden connector settings in a semicolon-separated list (for example, `setting1=value1;setting2=value2`). Normal connector use cases and functionality should not require the use of these settings.

Automation Tab

Automation Settings

Settings related to the automatic processing of files by the connector.

Setting	Description
Send	Whether files arriving at the connector are automatically sent as GISB messages.
Retry Interval	The amount of time before a failed send is retried. A retry is triggered when the server does not respond to a send attempt, or responds negatively to communicate that the file was not received.
Max Attempts	The maximum number of times the connector processes the input file. Success is based on a successful server acknowledgement and validation of the receipt (when requested synchronously). If this is set to 0, the connector retries the file indefinitely.

Performance

Settings related to the allocation of resources to the connector.

Setting	Description
Max Workers	The maximum number of worker threads consumed from the threadpool to process files on this connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Performance Settings portion of the Advanced Settings page.
Max Files	The maximum number of files sent by each thread assigned to the connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Performance Settings portion of the Advanced Settings page.

Alerts Tab

SLAs Tab

Partner Setup

Trading partners must share the connection details that are required when configuring a new GISB connector. At a minimum, these details must include:

GISB Identifier
Partner URL
Recipient Key Certificate

Send and Receive Files

Once the GISB profile and partner-specific GISB connectors are configured, files can be securely sent and received.

Send Files

In a GISB connector, the Transactions tab displays the files to be sent to the target trading partner. If Send is enabled on the Automation tab, files that reach this tab are automatically packaged and sent. Access the log files for all transmissions by expanding the row associated with the transmitted file. The Create Test Files button lets you generate a simple series of test files to send to the trading partner.

Receive Files

In a GISB connector, the Transactions tab displays the files that have been received by the application and routed to the connector (based on the GISB identifiers present in the incoming GISB message). Expand each file row to display a list of available logs for the transmission. These files are available on the connector Transactions tab. If the connector is connected to other connectors in the flow, files are automatically moved from the Transactions tab of the GISB connector to the Transactions tab of the next connector in the flow.

​Key Capabilities

​Overview

​Profile Configuration

​GISB Profile Tab

​Personal Id

​Personal Key

​Application URLs

​Miscellaneous

​Connector Configuration

​Settings Tab

​Trading Partner Info

​Connection Info

​Receipts

​Trading Partner Keys/Certificates

​Advanced Tab

​Alternate Local Profile

​TLS Client Authentication

​HTTP Authentication

​Proxy Settings

​Advanced Settings

​Message

​Logging

​Miscellaneous

​Automation Tab

​Automation Settings

​Performance

​Alerts Tab

​SLAs Tab

​Partner Setup

​Send and Receive Files

​Send Files

​Receive Files

​Macros

​Examples

Key Capabilities

Overview

Profile Configuration

GISB Profile Tab

Personal Id

Personal Key

Application URLs

Miscellaneous

Connector Configuration

Settings Tab

Trading Partner Info

Connection Info

Receipts

Trading Partner Keys/Certificates

Advanced Tab

Alternate Local Profile

TLS Client Authentication

HTTP Authentication

Proxy Settings

Advanced Settings

Message

Logging

Miscellaneous

Automation Tab

Automation Settings

Performance

Alerts Tab

SLAs Tab

Partner Setup

Send and Receive Files

Send Files

Receive Files

Macros

Examples