Re: EDI over http?

[lincoln@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Lincoln Yarbrough)]

I was comparing HTTP to traditional third party VAN, not to SMTP, when I
said the advantages were obvious. Maybe you can visit this mailing
list's archive to read all of the stuff written over the last year on
the topic of SMPT vs. FTP vs. HTTP vs. S-HTTP vs. FedEx (just kidding on
that one.)  There's also a documented list of process-to-process
requirements the EDIINT group worked on late last year.

Matthew James Gering wrote:

> > One is through forms where a human being actually fills out or views
> a
> > form.
>
> In this case HTTP hasn't anything inherently to do with EDI
> transmission.
>
> > towards using HTTP as an EDI file transfer protocol. The intent
> among
>
> > be primarily used by two trading partners to exchange data in a
> > real-time, point-to-point fashion. Advantages are obvious.
>
> Okay, I have evidently missed the obvious then -- what are the obvious
>
> advantages.
>
> I can think of two advantages:
>
> * Real-Time response
> I question the necessity of this. Could someone please elaborate.
>
> * Session encryption
> has security advantages over document encryption only.
>
> And following disadvantages:
>
> * Fault Taulerance
> through the use of multiple MX records, it handles transmission to
> hosts
> that are not immediately available, routing around network outages and
>
> unreachable hosts, etc, etc.
>
> * Gateways
> SMTP can be gatewayed through Firewalls, gatewayed to other networks
> and/or
> converted to other transport mechanisms such as X.400, etc..
>
> * Congestion
> SMTP is friendlier on the network than HTTP.
>
> * Reliability
> Denial of Service (DoS) attacks against web servers are far too
> trivial.
>
> * Efficiency
> SMTP is a much more efficient protocol than HTTP, both in file
> transfer and
> server load.

--
Lincoln Yarbrough               Email: lincoln@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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