Trading Partners

A Trading Partner is generally defined as a remote service that you regularly exchange data with. The only exception is the Local Directory Trading Partner, which identifies a local directory on the MFT Server system.

 

Trading Partner information is used in [Domain] > AUTOMATION > Triggers > Add/Edit > Actionswhen performing scheduled or event-based file transfers. For more information about triggers, see Triggers.

 

The purpose of creating a Trading Partner is to centralize remote host credentials, allowing them to be reused in multiple Trigger Actions. All the necessary attributes to connect to a remote service is stored in the Trading Partner. If a remote host changes their hostname, port, credentials etc., you only need to update the Trading Partner details as opposed to all the Trigger Actions that depend on (i.e., use) the host. This is a considerable time-saver.

 

Example: Assume you configure a Trigger to monitor for files that are uploaded to the MFT Server. When a File Upload event occurs, the Trigger executes. The Trigger consists of one or more Actions. Actions describe the work to be done. There are many Actions to choose from. Some are Trading Partner-specific. One such Action is Trading Partner File Upload, where MFT Server uploads a file to a Trading Partner. Assume the Trading Partner connects to a remote FTP server. The details about the remote FTP server are configured in the Trading Partner. If you use the same Trading Partner in multiple Trigger Actions, and a detail about the Trading Partner changes, you only need to update the Trading Partner, not the multiple Actions.

 

Warning: Some Trading Partner protocol types (AFTP, SFTP/SCP, FTP, and FTPS) include Trigger Actions implemented for the specific protocol. For example, when looking at the list of Trigger Actions you can choose from, there are SFTP-related Actions such as SFTP File Upload and SFTP File Download. The protocol-specific Trigger Actions are in the list for backwards compatibility, as they were implemented before the Trading Partner Actions were introduced. As a best practice, use the equivalent Trading Partner Action, such as Trading Partner File Upload or Trading Partner File Download, instead of the protocol-specific Actions. This is especially true when you have multiple Trigger Actions connecting to the same service configured in the Trading Partner.

 

To access the Trading Partner module, navigate to [Domain] > AUTOMATION > Trading Partners. The Trading Partners tab displays a grid of Trading Partners.

 

 

Click Add. The Add Trading Partner dialog displays.

 

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MFT Server supports the Trading Partners listed below. For information about a specific Trading Partner, click on the appropriate link.

 

 

After selecting a Trading Partner protocol, click OK. The Add <protocol type> Trading Partner dialog displays.

 

The fields vary depending on the protocol type selected. In this example, the AFTP Trading Partner was selected.

 

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Using Trading Partners in triggers

 

There are a number of file transfer Trigger Actions that are Trading Partner-specific. Therefore, the Connection field in the Action references a Trading Partner. Below are some of the Trading Partner Trigger Actions (not an all-inclusive list).

 

  • Trading Partner Directory Download

  • Trading Partner Directory Upload

  • Trading Partner File Download

  • Trading Partner File Upload

  • Trading Partner Regex File Download

  • Trading Partner Regex File Upload

  • Trading Partner Download Synchronization

  • Trading Partner Upload Synchronization

 

The Trading Partners listed below are supported in file transfer-related Trigger Actions (not all Trading Partners are designed for file transfers).

 

  • AFTP

  • AS2

  • Amazon S3

  • Box

  • DropBox

  • Google Cloud Storage

  • IBM Cloud

  • Microsoft Azure File Service

  • Microsoft Azure Blob Service

  • Microsoft Azure Data Lake

  • Microsoft Azure Data Lake Gen2

  • Microsoft OneDrive/SharePoint

  • FTP

  • FTPS Implicit

  • FTPS Explicit

  • REST

  • SFTP/SCP

  • SMB

  • WebDAV

  • TFTP

  • S3 Compatible

 

Similarly, there are Trigger Actions that only support specific Trading Partner protocols. For example,

 

Trading Partner Check Email Trigger Action supports protocols:

 

  • IMAP

  • POP3

 

Trading Partner Send Email Trigger Action supports protocol:

 

  • SMTP

 

Trading Partner OFTP2 Exchange and Trading Partner OFTP2 File Upload Trigger Actions supports protocol:

 

  • OFTP2

 

Amazon SNS Publish Message, Amazon SNS Publish SMS Message, and Amazon SQS Send Message Trigger Actions supports protocol:

 

  • Amazon AWS

 

Trading Partner SQL Query and Trading Partner SQL Query Dump supports protocol:

 

  • JDBC

 

Trading Partners that are not supported by the selected Trading Partner Trigger Action will not appear in the list of Trading Partners to choose from when configuring the Action.

 

Note: For tables that list all Trading Partner Actions, and the Trading Partner types that support the Actions, see Trading Partner Trigger Actions