RE: AS2 = Email & HTTP

Stacy, regarding:

>Question:
>Could AS2 be restated as: Email messages sent/received using HTTP protocol?

>AS2  =  Email + Security + Web server + Web browser

>Example, To Send:
>1. Use all the normal email standards to create the email message file,
>2. then use the an HTTP "POST" to send the file.
>3. Then once received, use all the normal email standards to "decode" the
email message file.
>4. To know what kind of file you have received, check the MIME type (e.g.
EDIX12-850 means you have received an X12-850 purchase order document), then
process appropriately.

No, this doesn't work. The HTTP standard defines headers that "collide" with
e-mail headers (e.g. From). The next version of the AS2 spec will contain
two new headers, AS2-To and AS2-From which will replace the To and From
headers used in e-mail. There are also some encoding differences between
SMTP and HTTP.


Dick Brooks
Group 8760
110 12th Street North
Birmingham, AL 35203
[email protected]
205-250-8053
Fax: 205-250-8057
http://www.8760.com/

InsideAgent - Empowering e-commerce solutions

  -----Original Message-----
  From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Stacy Thurston
  Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2000 12:28 PM
  To: [email protected]
  Subject: AS2 = Email & HTTP


  Hi all,
  ----------------------------------------------------
  Question:

  Could AS2 be restated as: Email messages sent/received using HTTP
protocol?

  AS2  =  Email + Security + Web server + Web browser

  Example, To Send:
  1. Use all the normal email standards to create the email message file,
  2. then use the an HTTP "POST" to send the file.
  3. Then once recieved, use all the normal email standards to "decode" the
email message file.
  4. To know what kind of file you have received, check the MIME type (e.g.
EDIX12-850 means you have received an X12-850 purchase order document), then
process appropriately.

  ** If this is the case, GREAT!
  This allows us to use all our current programs (technologies) to securely
and confidentially: send, receive and process documents through firewalls
that have an HTTP opening.

  Use:
  1. Our email (SMTP) client to create "email file messages"
  2. Our batch oreinted "Browser" client to send the "email file messages"
using HTTP POST.
  3. Our web server (HTTP) to receive documents
  4. * Here we need to write a plugin or cgi to pass the file to the email
client.
  5. Our email (POP) client would decode the "email file messages" as it
would any email message.
  6. We already have the programs to process the files based on sender,
receiver and MIME type.
  7. Our email client can create an "MDN file message".
  8. * Here we need to write a program to pass the "MDN file message" to the
batch oreinted "Browser" client that would send the "MDN file message" using
HTTP POST.
  9. Repeat steps 3, 4, 5 and 6

  *** And all of our current security programs remain the same (e.g. SMIME,
digital signatures and encryption).

  File - Email client - Batch web browser - Internet - Web server - Email
client - File

  This will be easy for us to create an AS2 peer to peer system :)

  Thanks for the conversations,
  Stacy Thurston, iPlanet (SUN|Netscape) Product Manager
  http://www.iplanet.com/products/ecommerce/ecxpert/ecxpert.html



  ----------------------------------------------------
  Background:

  I work with a product dedicated to sending & receiving documents.  We add
communication "agents" (programs/connectors) to do the sending and
receiving.

  Example:
  * "Browser" client to send documents
  * HTTP server to receive documents
  * POP client to get documents
  * FTP client to get and put documents

  We have found that:
  1. Email messaging standards are adequate to send/receive/process
documents:
  * SMTP/POP, multipart, SMIME, digital signatures & RSA encryption
  * Note, mulitpart is rich enough to allow us to tell what kind of file is
being sent to us, i.e. MIME type is the document type.
  2. And the HTTP protocol is adequate for file transport.

  ----------------------------------------------------
  eom