3) Connectivity between counterparties
3.1 What are the prerequisites for communication with counterparties?
There is a basic checklist which should consulted before trying to communicate with partners. Here is the link to this checklist: Checklist 1 (PDF)
3.2 I have problems communicating with a specific partner
Use the check list mentioned above. Try to ping/pong the partner via the test adapter in the Messenger. Maybe your counterparty has a dynamic IP range used by some proxy servers or dynamic IP resolution, which will result in using a new IP address on each communication attempt. Make sure your firewall knows the valid range and does not block these IP address range. A typical behaviour of the EFETBox in this case is, that the messages sent are going into state "NOT SENT". On further inspection one can see an error in the Messenger for the document stating an "I/O Error on network socket" or "cannot open connection". Your network administrator can help you in this case with tools that test the desired connection on the system level (ping, telnet, tracert).
3.3 I can reach my counterparty's IP address, but I get the error code "not authenticated"
Your counterparty uses the secure listener, which must have your certificate installed to allow communications. Ask your counterparty to add your certificates to their listener.
3.4 Ping/Pong to my counterparty works, but sending business documents results in ebxml errors like "XML invalid" or "other XML".
A possible cause is that encryption is activated on either side in the agreement, but not on both sides. Please make sure your agreement matches exactly the agreement of your counterparty. Another cause may be that the schema info between the counterparties does not match, i.e. BCN is not activated. Other causes exist, please make sure before you call the helpdesk that the agreement on both sides is exactly the same.
3.5 Ping/Pong to my counterparty works, but sending business documents produces an error: "Remote reply: Service and/or Action value is invalid. EbXml-ErrorCode:ValueNotRecognized."
You probably communicate between X/P 2.2 (EFET 3.0 dist.) and a more current system (X/P 2.3), which requires a special agreement setup on the Messenger 2.3. - Please check the EFETBox3.1 Install Config Guide, section 6.3 on how to configure an agreement with a partner supporting the 3.0 Standard.
3.6 Many of my messages fail with an "Time to live expired" Messenger error code
The Messsenger and the EFETBox+ use an NTP internet service by default for synchronizing their clocks. Make sure that either your firewall allows access to an NTP server or you have an internal NTP server accessible in the local network. Without these, clock times can differ and resulting in the "time to live expired" error. You can check if this is the case when you compare the system time (in UTC) on both messenger servers and they are not the same. Maybe your company's virus wall needs too long to check the messages so that the timestamp expires.
3.7 I have problems with counterparty communication. Is there a test partner available at Ponton?
Yes. In fact, every Messenger has the test Partner profile "PontonXPTestServer" pre-installed. After you have uploaded your local profile to the registry, you can run tests with this partner. Try to ping/pong this partner. To send sample business documents with the test adapter or from local file to pontons test server, you need to add a new Partner called "PontonXPTrader". The communication parameters are the same as of "PontonXPTestTrader". If you need a broker, use "BRPOCO" as profile name and use the communication parameters from "PontonXPTestServer". The TestMessengers GUI is reachable under: http://xptest.ponton-consulting.de. The test EfetBox 3.1 installation is reachable under http://xptest.ponton-consulting.de:8880. Username and password are available on request. When you use this test server, we will have first hand information on our server for possible causes of your communication problems.
3.8 How do I test if my counterparties are set up correctly?
There is a checklist for this, which you can find here (PDF).
