B2B Exchange Protocols: AS2 and EDI-Style Transfer
When retailers, logistics networks, and healthcare clearinghouses exchange business documents, they usually demand more than “the file arrived” — they want it signed, encrypted, and acknowledged with a receipt that would stand up in a dispute. That is the world of AS2 and EDI-style exchange, and administrators usually inherit it the day a big trading partner sends a connection spec.
This series translates that world into admin terms: how AS2's signing, encryption, and MDN receipts actually work, enough EDI vocabulary to survive partner calls, the certificate-renewal choreography that prevents the classic outage, a partner onboarding checklist, and the recurring troubleshooting patterns.
Articles in This Series
- AS2 Explained for Admins: Signing, Encryption, and Receipts End to End
The message journey and what AS2 guarantees that bare SFTP doesn't. - EDI Basics for the Admin Suddenly Responsible for It
Documents vs transport, and the vocabulary for partner calls. - MDNs and Proof of Delivery: How B2B Receipts Actually Work
Sync vs async receipts, MIC verification, and receipts as evidence. - Certificate Lifecycles in AS2 Partnerships
Exchange, renewal choreography, and preventing the expired-cert outage. - Onboarding a Trading Partner: The Technical Checklist
Connection details, test protocol, go-live criteria, and clean offboarding. - AS2 vs SFTP for Partner Exchange: When the Heavyweight Earns Its Keep
Receipts and non-repudiation vs simplicity — the honest decision line. - Troubleshooting AS2: Decryption Failures, MIC Mismatches, and Missing MDNs
The recurring failure families and the partner-call escalation script.
Explore More Topics
This series is part of the Sysax file transfer topic library, which covers the protocols, security practices, automation techniques, and operational skills behind reliable file transfer. The library pairs well with the practical tools we build: Sysax Multi Server, a secure FTP, FTPS, SFTP, and HTTPS server for Windows, and Sysax FTP Automation, which schedules and scripts secure transfers so the routine ones run themselves.