Introduction
Portbase offers various protocols to exchange messages between your internal system and the Port Community System (PCS). This article explains how you can send and retrieve messages via the AS2 protocol.
You can find an overview of the other protocols here
Before you start
In this article, we assume that:
- Your organisation already has an AS2 connection, or our colleagues from Integration Services have contacted you to set it up. No connection yet? Then first read this article about requesting a system interface.
- You, as a technical administrator, are responsible for creating and managing system interfaces, and you have access to the System interfaces (EDIFACT/XML) application in the PCS. No access yet? Then see this article about how you can get access to the application.
Managing interfaces
You manage your AS2 and sFTP interfaces via the PCS service System interfaces (EDIFACT/XML). You can find this in the Port Community Systeem (PCS).
Preparing the interface
In the system interfaces portal you will see an overview of existing interfaces. This is the place to configure your interface or authorise your software supplier to manage it. Via the Details option (on the right) you can view more details and settings for this interface.
Portbase URL and connection details for the new interface
In the first block What do I need to connect to? you will find Portbase’s details for setting up the new interface in your AS2 client software. Via the Encryption certificate and Signing certificate options you can download Portbase’s certificates. Portbase supports synchronous MDN only.
Add AS2 profile
In the second block you add one or more AS2 profiles. An AS2 profile contains the connection details of your organisation’s AS2 server. A maximum of 1 profile per connection can be active.
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Select Add AS2 profile to add a profile to the interface.
- In the profile, enter the details to connect to your organisation.
- Select Add AS2 profile to save all settings.
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The added AS2 profile is now visible in the interface details, but has not yet been activated.
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Select the three-dots menu in the profile to view the profile options. Select Activate for outbound to activate the profile. You can see whether a profile is active in the Outbound active field. If the connection is active it will show true, and if it is inactive, false.
We support multiple profiles for an interface, but one per connection can be active. When deleting an active profile, another profile is not automatically activated.
Add certificate
On this screen you add the certificates for signing and encrypting the AS2 messages. It is not mandatory to use different certificates for this. We support importing certificates in .pem format and you can use both an individual certificate and a certificate chain.
Select Add certificate to open the Certificate dialog.
In the Add certificate dialog, you select the purpose of the certificate and select which certificate you want to use for this purpose. For each purpose, you must confirm the selection of a certificate via the Add certificate button. You cannot configure both purposes (encrypting and signing) in this dialog at the same time.
You can provide either a self-signed certificate or a certificate from a certificate authority (CA):
- Self-signed certificate: Upload only the certificate. No chain is required, because a self-signed certificate is its own issuer.
- CA certificate: Upload the full certificate including the complete chain in a single .pem file. Place the certificates in the correct order: first your own (leaf) certificate, then the intermediate certificates and finally the root certificate. For a CA certificate, the full chain is mandatory; otherwise the trust relationship cannot be established and the certificate will be rejected.
You can therefore upload a self-signed certificate and a CA certificate with a full chain via the same Upload certificate field.
Testing the interface
The interface is now set up and ready to be tested. Check whether you can connect from your AS2 client to the Portbase AS2 server via the new interface, and contact Portbase to review Portbase’s connection to your AS2 server.
If you have questions about your AS2 system interface with Portbase, please contact integration@portbase.com