RosettaNet Connector - CData Arc Documentation

The RosettaNet connector sends and receives messages following the RosettaNet Implementation Framework (RNIF) standard.

Key Capabilities

RNIF 1.1 and 2.0 support for B2B document exchange
Automatic message routing with per-partner configuration and flexible encryption/signing options
Certificate-based security with synchronous/asynchronous acknowledgment handling

Overview

A RosettaNet connection is configured in two places. Configure the RosettaNet Profiles page with a local RosettaNet identifier, and private certificates. Then configure individual RosettaNet connectors with connection settings specific to a single trading partner. When an input file is processed by a RosettaNet connector, it is packaged and sent to the specified trading partner. When Arc receives a file over RosettaNet, it attempts to route the file to a specific RosettaNet connector. The application uses the RosettaNet identifiers in the RosettaNet message to determine which RosettaNet connector should receive the file. When a file is routed to a RosettaNet connector, that file is placed in the connector’s Transactions tab, or is passed along to the next connector in the flow.

Profile Configuration

The RosettaNet Profile must be configured before connections can be established with individual RosettaNet connectors. Click Profiles on the navbar, then click the RosettaNet tab.

RosettaNet Profile Tab

Personal Id

Settings for identifying the local profile.

Setting	Description
Business Identifier	Your identifier. Messages sent by Arc include this value in outgoing messages to identify the sender. Incoming messages must be addressed to this identifier. Identifiers are case-sensitive.
Business Location	Describes the location of the receiver for incoming messages. This value is not an address, but it can be a city name.

Personal Certificate

Settings related to the private decryption and signature certificate.

Setting	Description
Private Certificate	The certificate used to decrypt incoming messages and sign outgoing messages. Never share this certificate with external parties. Click the Create Certificate button to generate a self-signed certificate that is ready to use in a RosettaNet transaction: a corresponding public key is also generated with the same filename and a `.cer` extension.
Certificate Password	The password required to access the Private Certificate.

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 RosettaNet 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

Once you configure the global RosettaNet profile settings, create and configure individual RosettaNet connectors for each trading partner on the Flows page.

Settings Tab

Configuration

Settings for identifying and connecting to a specific RosettaNet 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.
Business Identifier	The identifier specific to the target trading partner. This value is included in the headers for outgoing messages, and is also used to route incoming messages to the appropriate RosettaNet connector.
Business Location	The location of the outgoing message recipient.
Partner URL	The trading partner’s public endpoint where outgoing messages should be sent.

Connection Info

Settings related to connection parameters for the specified trading partner.

Setting	Description
RNIF Version	The protocol version to use when generating RosettaNet messages.
Encryption Type	Whether to encrypt the payload, the payload and the headers, or neither.
Data Signature	Whether to sign outgoing messages.
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.
Connection Timeout	The length of time (in seconds) the connector waits for a connection response before throwing a timeout error.
Test Indicator	Controls the `GlobalUsageCode` in the preamble header. Check this to set the code to `Test`. If left unchecked, the code is `Production`. Only required when RNIF Version is 1.1.

Acknowledgments

Settings related to RosettaNet acknowledgments.

Setting	Description
Automatic Acknowledgments	Whether acknowledgments should be automatically sent in response to incoming RosettaNet messages.
Automatic Exceptions	Whether exceptions should be automatically sent in response to failed messages.
Require Acknowledgment	Whether acknowledgments should be returned in response to outgoing RosettaNet messages.
Security	Whether acknowledgments should include a signature block verifying the message integrity and identity of the recipient.
Delivery	Whether acknowledgments should be returned as a direct response to the outgoing RosettaNet message (Synchronous) or returned later as part of a separate connection (Asynchronous). Synchronous receipts are recommended unless the size of the RosettaNet message is very large (50MB is a common threshold), in which case processing the message and delivering a synchronous receipt might strain the connection timeout duration.

Trading Partner Certificates

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

Setting	Description
Encryption Certificate	The public key certificate used for RosettaNet encryption when sending messages. This certificate must be paired with the trading partner’s private decryption certificate, and the trading partner should provide this public key certificate when sharing RosettaNet configuration details.
Verification Certificate	The public key certificate used to verify RosettaNet signatures when receiving messages. This field is usually unnecessary; most RosettaNet parties use the same private certificate for both signing and decrypting. If this field is not specified, the application uses the Encryption Certificate to verify signatures.
TLS Server Certificate	The public key certificate used to verify the identity of a TLS/SSL server. This is only necessary if the partner’s RosettaNet 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 it can be set to `Any Certificate` to unconditionally trust the target server’s identity.

Advanced Tab

Alternate Local Profile

Settings that override the configuration on the Profiles page for this specific RosettaNet connector. Setting an alternate local profile lets you use different local certificates and identifiers for certain trading partners.

Setting	Description
Local Business Location	Your location. Overrides Business Location on the Profiles page.
Local Business Identifier	Your identifier. Overrides Business Identifier on the Profiles page.
Private Certificate	The certificate used to decrypt incoming messages and sign outgoing messages. Overrides Private Certificate on the Profiles page.
Certificate Password	The password required to access the local private certificate.

TLS Client Authentication

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

Setting	Description
Use Profile	Whether to use the Private Certificate configured on the Profiles page as the TLS certificate for client authentication.
Private Certificate	The private certificate presented during TLS client authentication. Only applicable if you are not using the private certificate on the Profiles page.
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.

Advanced Settings

Settings not included in the previous categories.

Setting	Description
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.
RNIF Debug Mode	Whether communication errors related to the validation of PIPs or the authentication of the sender should be returned by RosettaNet receivers. This setting must be enabled on both sides of the transfer for the exceptions to be returned.
Signature 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.
Secure Transport	Check this to require security when forwarding messages.
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.

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.

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 Automation	Whether files arriving at the connector are automatically sent as RosettaNet messages.
Retry Interval	The number of minutes 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 you set this to 0, the connector retries the file indefinitely.
Resend Interval	The number of minutes before unacknowledged messages are resent. A resend is triggered when the server receives the file, but an asynchronous acknowledgment is not provided within the expected timeframe.
Max Attempts (async)	The maximum number of times the connector processes the input file when asynchronous acknowledgments are requested. Success is based on the return of an asynchronous receipt within the Resend Interval after a successful server acknowledgement. If a successful server acknowledgement is not returned, Max Attempts is applied instead. If this is set to 0, the connector resends 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

Establishing a Connection

Trading partners must provide some of the connection details that are required when you configure a new RosettaNet connector. At a minimum, these details should include:

Business Identifier
Partner URL
Partner Certificates

Business Identifier

Your trading partner is identified by their business identifier in a RosettaNet transaction. When sending outgoing requests, the business identifier is used in the header of the request to indicate the recipient. To establish a RosettaNet self-test, the identifier should be set to the same value as the Business Identifier on the Profiles page.

This value is case-sensitive.

Partner URL

The Partner URL is the endpoint where the trading partner receives RosettaNet transmissions. Outgoing RosettaNet messages are sent to this target endpoint, which must be unique for each trading partner. You can test the Partner URL with a web browser to check for networking or connectivity issues. To establish a RosettaNet self-test, the target URL should be identical or nearly identical to the Receiving URL on the Profiles page. You can replace the domain name from the Profiles page with the loopback address localhost to keep the RosettaNet transaction in the local network. An example local self-test URL is http://localhost:8001/pub/Receive.rsb. If you do not replace the domain name with localhost, the RosettaNet message is routed outside of the local network. You can use this to check network configuration settings and to make sure that the message can reach Arc through any firewalls.

Partner Certificates

Each RosettaNet connector must be configured with certificate(s) for the target trading partner. The trading partner provides the certificates necessary to encrypt and verify RosettaNet messages exchanged with them. Arc accepts X.509 public key certificates (files with .cer, .der, or .pem extensions). Typically the trading partner provides a single certificate, which should be configured in the Encryption Certificate field. If the trading partner provides multiple certificates, they should clarify the purpose of each certificate. If the partner provides a full certificate chain (as acquired from a commercial certificate authority), only the leaf certificate (the last certificate in the chain) needs to be configured.

Send and Receive Files

Once the RosettaNet profile and partner-specific RosettaNet connectors have been configured, files can be securely sent and received.

Send Files

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

Resend and Retry

A RosettaNet Resend is triggered when the trading partner is expected to return an asynchronous acknowledgment, but fails to do so within the Resend Interval duration (60 minutes by default). The application then attempts to resend the transmission. The application continues resending the message until an acknowledgment is received or the Max Attempts (async) is exhausted. A Retry is triggered when the HTTP response from the trading partner indicates that the server has not received the transmission. This can indicate a networking or connectivity issue, which is often transient. The application retries the transmission every Retry Interval minutes until the transmission is received or the Max Attempts is exhausted.

Receive Files

In a RosettaNet connector, the Transactions tab displays the files that have been received by the application and routed to the connector (based on the RosettaNet identifiers present in the incoming RosettaNet 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 RosettaNet connector to the Transactions tab of the next connector in the flow. The RosettaNet protocol does not allow for actively pulling files from trading partners: the RosettaNet connector can only passively wait for a trading partner to send a file.

Configuring PIPs

Partner Interface Processes (PIPs) are the logical XML documents used by RosettaNet to transport information about various business processes. The following is a list of common PIPs:

PIP	Description
3A1	Request Quote
3A2	Request Price and Availability
3A3	Request Shopping Cart Transfer
3A4	Request Purchase Order
3A5	Query Order Status
3A6	Distribute Order Status
3A7	Notify of Purchase Order Update
3A8	Request Purchase Order Change
3A9	Request Purchase Order Cancellation
3A10	Notify of Quote Acknowledgement
3A13	Notify of Purchase Order Information
3A14	Distribute Planned Order
3B1	Distribute Transportation Projection
3B2	Notify of Advance Shipment
3B3	Distribute Shipment Status
3B4	Query Shipment Status
3B5	Request Shipment Change
3B6	Notify of Shipments Tendered
3B11	Notify of Shipping Order
3B12	Request Shipping Order
3B13	Notify of Shipping Order Confirmation
3B14	Request Shipping Order Cancellation
3B18	Notify of Shipment Documentation
3C1	Return Product
3C2	Request Financing Approval
3C3	Notify of Invoice
3C4	Notify of Invoice Reject
3C5	Notify of Billing Statement
3C6	Notify of Remittance Advice
3C7	Notify of Self-Billing Invoice

​Key Capabilities

​Overview

​Profile Configuration

​RosettaNet Profile Tab

​Personal Id

​Personal Certificate

​Application URLs

​Miscellaneous

​Connector Configuration

​Settings Tab

​Configuration

​Connection Info

​Acknowledgments

​Trading Partner Certificates

​Advanced Tab

​Alternate Local Profile

​TLS Client Authentication

​HTTP Authentication

​Advanced Settings

​Proxy Settings

​Message

​Logging

​Miscellaneous

​Automation Tab

​Automation Settings

​Performance

​Alerts Tab

​SLAs Tab

​Establishing a Connection

​Business Identifier

​Partner URL

​Partner Certificates

​Send and Receive Files

​Send Files

​Resend and Retry

​Receive Files

​Configuring PIPs

​Macros

​Examples

Key Capabilities

Overview

Profile Configuration

RosettaNet Profile Tab

Personal Id

Personal Certificate

Application URLs

Miscellaneous

Connector Configuration

Settings Tab

Configuration

Connection Info

Acknowledgments

Trading Partner Certificates

Advanced Tab

Alternate Local Profile

TLS Client Authentication

HTTP Authentication

Advanced Settings

Proxy Settings

Message

Logging

Miscellaneous

Automation Tab

Automation Settings

Performance

Alerts Tab

SLAs Tab

Establishing a Connection

Business Identifier

Partner URL

Partner Certificates

Send and Receive Files

Send Files

Resend and Retry

Receive Files

Configuring PIPs

Macros

Examples