Communication Adapters (FTP, SFTP, AS2, HTTP, MQ, File System)
Domain 5 tests adapter configuration and the protocol details that cause most production incidents. Each adapter has connection, authentication, security, retry, and scheduling properties, and runs in an adapter container.
Adapter essentials
- FTP: active vs. passive mode, binary vs. ASCII, remote directory, rename-on-success.
- SFTP: SSH host-key verification, key-based vs. password auth, known_hosts.
- AS2: trading partner IDs, signing/encryption certificates, MDN request (sync/async), receipt validation.
- HTTP/HTTPS: method, URL, headers, proxy, TLS trust, timeouts.
- MQ: queue manager, channel, queue name, message format, correlation IDs.
- File system: pickup directory, polling interval, duplicate detection, file masks.
Worked example
An AS2 send succeeds but the process reports failure. The adapter sent the message but the requested synchronous MDN was not received or failed signature validation. Check the partner's MDN URL, whether the partner signs the MDN, and whether their certificate is trusted. Reasoning: transport success is not AS2 success; the MDN is the receipt.
Traps
- FTP active mode blocked by a firewall; passive mode is usually required.
- SFTP host key not trusted, causing silent connection failure.
- AS2 certificate mismatch between signing and encryption keys.
- MQ queue name correct but channel or queue manager wrong.
- File system adapter reprocessing the same file because rename or duplicate detection is off.