Communication Channels

Use the Manage Communication Channels page to establish a communication channel between MarketDirect StoreFront and an ePS MIS such as Pace™, Monarch, or PrintSmith™ Vision (v 3.4 or higher). This is the first step in integrating MarketDirect StoreFront with an MIS on the MarketDirect StoreFront side.

Notes:

● A communication channel does not apply to MIS basic integrations with MarketDirect StoreFront. It applies only to Pace, Monarch, and Radius integrations, as well as integrations with PrintSmith Vision v. 3.4 or higher.

● The task of establishing a communication channel is performed in MarketDirect StoreFront, and is only part of what you must do to integrate MarketDirect StoreFront with an MIS. For information about all the tasks you must perform in MarketDirect StoreFront, see the MarketDirect StoreFront and MIS Setup Guide. For complete details of what you must do in both MarketDirect StoreFront and the MIS for a successful integration, see the implementation/integration guide for the MIS you plan to use with MarketDirect StoreFront.

When MarketDirect StoreFront is customer-hosted, you must edit the registry to grant full control to certain certificate entries before you can establish a communication channel between MarketDirect StoreFront and the MIS.

What would you like to do?

(Customer-Hosted) Edit the Registry

When self-hosting MarketDirect StoreFront you must edit the registry to grant full control to some certificate entries before you can establish a communication channel between MarketDirect StoreFront and the MIS.

1 Start the Registry Editor (regedit).

2 Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > WOW6432Node > Electronics for Imaging > DSF > Certification and do the following:

● Right-click Certification and select Permissions.

● Add the local computer accounts ASPNET and IUSRS, select the Allow check box for Full Control, and click Apply for each of these.

3 Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE >Software > WOW6432Node > Microsoft > SystemCertificates > ROOT and do the following:

● Right-click ROOT and select Permissions.

● Add the local computer accounts ASPNET and IUSRS, select the Allow check box for Full Control, and click Apply for each of these.

● Click Advanced.

● Select the Replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object check box and click Apply.

4 Click OK and close regedit.

Establish a Communication Channel for Pace

When you are integrating MarketDirect StoreFront with Pace, you must complete the steps described below to establish a direct communication channel. The steps are the same whether MarketDirect StoreFront is customer-hosted or cloud-based (hosted by ePS), but if your installation is customer-hosted, you must first edit the registry to grant full control to some certificate entries.

If you plan to use SSL

If you are self-hosting MarketDirect StoreFront, and you want to use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) for communication, you must purchase an external certificate for your MarketDirect StoreFront server and install it in the trusted root folder on the server. (You must also secure Pace with an external certificate.)

If MarketDirect StoreFront is cloud-based (ePS-hosted), the certificate is installed for you.

Establishing the communication channel

1 If you are self-hosting MarketDirect StoreFront, make sure you already edited the registry.

2 Log into MarketDirect StoreFront as an administrator and go to Administration > MIS CONFIGURATION > Manage Communication Channels.

3 Click Add New Channel.

4 In the Type field, select Direct Channel.

5 Enter a Name and optional Description for the channel.

6 In the Configuration url field, enter the location of the web service (Pace machine).

● In a single-company installation:
http://name/rpc/services/ePSConfiguration
where name is the domain name of the Pace machine.

● In a multi-company installation:
Include the name of the company (as listed in the Company field on the Pace login page) in the URL:
http://name/rpc/company:public/services/ePSConfiguration
where name is the domain name of the Pace machine.

A domain name (instead of an IP address) is strongly recommended because, unlike an IP address, a domain name does not change and will get resolved (using DNS) to a new IP if the IP changes.

7 If you are not using SSL for communication, click Register.

8 If you are self-hosted and are using SSL for communication, an external certificate must already be installed in the trusted root folder on your MarketDirect StoreFront server. Then:

● Select the Use SSL check box.

● Next to External Certificate, select the certificate you want to use from the drop-down list.

If you were using an external certificate in a pre-7.4 version of MarketDirect StoreFront with the same name as the default system certificate, or if you have multiple certificates with the same name as the external certificate you selected before, you must re-establish the communication channel and select the certificate you want to use from the drop-down in the External Certificate field.

● Click Register.

Post registration

After you click Register, and registration succeeds:

● The Secure Communication Url will be set automatically, and should match what is in the Configuration Url field, except for the file name which will be ePSIntegration instead of ePSConfiguration.

● An active Pace Connect for MarketDirect StoreFront is automatically created in the ePS Pace system.

The next step is to configure and register the MIS on the MIS Systems page.

If you need to re-establish the communication channel with an external certificate

If you need to re-establish a communication channel by selecting a different external certificate, follow these steps:

1 Log into MarketDirect StoreFront as an administrator and go to Administration > MIS CONFIGURATION > Manage Communication Channels. The Manage Communication Channels page opens.

2 Open the channel you need to remove and click Unregister.

3 Re-establish a communication channel by following the steps in Establish a communication channel for Pace and selecting the certificate from the drop-down in the External Certificate field in step 8 in the previous section.

Establish a Communication Channel for Monarch

When you are integrating MarketDirect StoreFront with Monarch v 13.1 or higher, you must complete the steps described below to establish a communication channel between MarketDirect StoreFront and the Monarch MIS. The steps are the same whether MarketDirect StoreFront is customer-hosted or cloud-based (hosted by ePS), but if your installation is customer-hosted, you must first edit the registry to grant full control to some certificate entries.

This procedure assumes that Monarch Gateway is already installed and configured. See the ePS Monarch Gateway Installation Guide.

1 If MarketDirect StoreFront is customer-hosted, be sure you already edited the registry to give full control to some certificate entries.

2 Log in as an administrator and go to Administration > MIS CONFIGURATION > Manage Communication Channels.

3 Click Add New Channel.

4 In the Type field, select Direct Channel.

5 Enter a Name and optional Description for the channel.

6 In the Configuration url field, enter the location of the web service (Monarch Gateway) in this format:

http://name/MonarchIISGateway/ePSConfiguration.asmx

where name is the domain name of the Monarch machine.

This URL is case-sensitive.

7 If MarketDirect StoreFront is self-hosted, and you plan to use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) for communication:

● Select the Use SSL check box.

● Next to External Certificate, select the certificate you want to use from the drop-down list (The certificate must be installed in the trusted root folder on your MarketDirect StoreFront server.)

8 Click Register.

The next step is to configure and register the MIS on the MIS Systems page.

Establish a Communication Channel for PrintSmith Vision (v 3.4 or Higher)

When you are integrating MarketDirect StoreFront with PrintSmith Vision v 3.4 or higher, you must complete the steps described below to establish a communication channel between MarketDirect StoreFront and the PrintSmith Vision MIS. MarketDirect StoreFront and PrintSmith Vision use eFlow as the communication channel.

For more information about this task and all the other setup tasks required to integrate PrintSmith Vision 3.4 (or higher) with MarketDirect StoreFront, see the PrintSmith Vision – MarketDirect StoreFront Integration Guide.

1 If MarketDirect StoreFront is customer-hosted, be sure you already edited the registry to give full control to some certificate entries.

2 Log in as an administrator and go to Administration > MIS CONFIGURATION > Manage Communication Channels.

3 Click Add New Channel.

4 In the Type field, select one of the following depending how MarketDirect StoreFront and PrintSmith Vision are hosted:

● eFlow - if both MarketDirect StoreFront and PrintSmith Vision are ePS-hosted or if both are self-hosted (customer-hosted)

● Super eFlow - if MarketDirect StoreFront is ePS-hosted and PrintSmith Vision is self-hosted

5 Enter a Name (up to 13 characters) and optional Description for the channel.

After you register the communication channel, the system adds an _ (underscore) followed by the site GUID (an identifier for your MarketDirect StoreFront installation) to the Name you entered. If you enter a name with more than 13 characters, the extra characters will be removed.

6 In the Configuration Url field, enter the URL of the eFlow server. (For ePS-hosted installations, this will be given to you.)

MarketDirect StoreFront currently supports HTTP for the eFlow URL. (HTTPS is not supported.)

7 Click Check Status to make sure you can connect to eFlow.

8 Click Register.

9 Click Subscribe.

The next step is to configure and register the MIS on the MIS Systems page.

Establish a Communication Channel for Radius

When you are integrating MarketDirect StoreFront with Radius, you must complete the steps described below to establish a communication channel between MarketDirect StoreFront and the Radius MIS. MarketDirect StoreFront and Radius use eFlow as the communication channel.

1 If MarketDirect StoreFront is customer-hosted, be sure you already edited the registry to give full control to some certificate entries.

2 Log in as an administrator and go to Administration > MIS CONFIGURATION > Manage Communication Channels.

3 Click Add New Channel.

4 In the Type field, select one of the following depending how MarketDirect StoreFront and Radius are hosted:

● eFlow - if both MarketDirect StoreFront and Radius are ePS-hosted or if both are self-hosted (customer-hosted)

● Super eFlow - if MarketDirect StoreFront is ePS-hosted and Radius is self-hosted

5 Enter a Name (up to 13 characters) and optional Description for the channel.

6 In the Configuration Url field, enter the URL of the eFlow server. (For ePS-hosted installations, this will be given to you.)

MarketDirect StoreFront currently supports HTTP for the eFlow URL. (HTTPS is not supported.)

7 Click Check Status to make sure you can connect to eFlow.

8 Click Register.

9 Click Subscribe.

The next step is to configure and register the MIS on the MIS Systems page.

(Customer-Hosted) Verify the Site Call Back URL

The site call back URL is used for communication between MarketDirect StoreFront and an MIS. In customer-hosted installations, you should verify it is correct and fix it if necessary.

● The site call back URL is not established until after the communication channel between MarketDirect StoreFront and the MIS is established.

● If MarketDirect StoreFront is cloud-based (ePS-hosted), and there is a problem with the site call back URL, you will not be able to fix it yourself. Please contact ePS support.

1 Log into MarketDirect StoreFront as an administrator and go to Administration > MIS CONFIGURATION > Manage Communication Channels.

2 Verify that the external site URL begins with the correct site URL. The URL must be accessible from the MIS.

If the external site call back URL includes localhost, the site is being accessed on the local server using http://localhost/DSF (which is sometimes done for testing purposes). The site URL is used as the base for the call back URL. When localhost is the base for a call back, asynchronous communication between MarketDirect StoreFront and the MIS will not work. In this case, you must provide access to the site from outside the domain by correcting the site URLs as described next.

3 If the external Site Call Back URL is incorrect (for example, it includes localhost), go to PLATFORM SETTINGS > Site Settings, click the Connectivity tab, correct the external site URLs, and click Save. (The internal site URLs can be left set to localhost or some other internal URL.)

4 On the Manage Communications Channel page, in the Site Call Back URL field, select the first external URL (External1) you corrected and click Saved.

● If you are doing this after you registered the MIS on the MIS Systems page, you must click Register again on the MIS Systems page so the corrected call back URL is sent to the MIS. A Pace integration cannot be re-registered, however. Instead, manually go into PaceConnect and change the Output tab.

● You can test whether asynchronous communication is working by making a change to a Web customer’s name in the MIS and then seeing if this change is reflected in MarketDirect StoreFront. This must be a Web customer who is configured for the MarketDirect StoreFront integration (versus a Web customer integrated with another product).