Outbound Enabler

The Outbound Enabler runs on the same computer as the back-end server. Its purpose is to:

Open an outbound connection from the computer running in the corporate LAN to the Relay Server farm running in the DMZ.
Forward client requests received from the Relay Server to the back-end server and forward back-end server responses back to the client via the Relay Server.

When the Outbound Enabler starts, it makes an HTTP request to retrieve the list of Relay Servers running in the farm. This is done using the server URL that maps to the web server extension component of the Relay Server. The server URL can map directly to a Relay Server or it can map to a load balancer. If the server URL maps to a load balancer, the load balancer forwards the request to one of the Relay Servers running in the farm. The Relay Server that receives the request from the Outbound Enabler returns the connection information for all Relay Servers in the farm. The Outbound Enabler then creates two outbound connections, called channels, to each Relay Server returned. One channel, called the up channel, is created using an HTTP request with an essentially infinite response. The response is a continuous stream of client requests from the Relay Server to the Outbound Enabler. The second channel, called the down channel, is created using an HTTP request with an essentially infinite content length. The request is formed by a continuous stream of server responses to client requests.

When the Outbound Enabler receives a client request on the up channel from one of the Relay Servers it has connected to, it forwards it to the back-end server that the Outbound Enabler is servicing. Once a response is received from the back-end server, it gets forwarded to the Relay Server from which it received the corresponding request using the down channel.

Note

The following back-end servers are supported for use with the Relay Server:

Afaria
Mobile Office
MobiLink
Mobile Office
SQL Anywhere
Unwired Server
Sybase Unwired Platform

Refer to your license agreement or the SQL Anywhere Components by Platforms page for information about which back-end servers are supported. See [external link] http://www.sybase.com/detail?id=1061806 .

Outbound Enabler syntax

rsoe [ option ]+

rsoe @{ filename | environment-variable } ...

Parameters

Options The following options can be used with the Outbound Enabler. Options that have defaults are optional. At a minimum, the Outbound Enabler needs to supply the connection string for the Relay Server (-cr), the farm (-f) and server (-id) names. If a security token is configured, it must also be specified (-t).

rsoe options Description

@data

Reads options from the specified environment variable or configuration file. If you want to protect passwords or other information in the configuration file, you can use the File Hiding utility to obfuscate the contents of the configuration file. See File Hiding utility (dbfhide).

-cr "connection-string"

Specifies the Relay Server connection string. The format of the Relay Server connection string is a semicolon separated list of name-value pairs. The name-value pairs consist of the following:

host IP address or hostname of the Relay Server. The default is localhost.
See host.
port The port the Relay Server is listening on. This is required.
See port.
http_userid Userid for authentication. Optional. You should consult your web server (or proxy) documentation to determine how to set up HTTP authentication.
See http_userid.
http_password Password for authentication. Optional. You should consult your web server (or proxy) documentation to determine how to set up HTTP authentication.
See http_password.
http_proxy_userid Userid for proxy authentication. Optional. You should consult your web server (or proxy) documentation to determine how to set up HTTP authentication.
See http_proxy_userid.
http_proxy_password Password for proxy authentication. Optional. You should consult your web server (or proxy) documentation to determine how to set up HTTP authentication.
See http_proxy_password.
proxy_host Specifies the host name or IP address of the proxy server. Optional.
See proxy_host.
proxy_port Specifies the port number of the proxy server. Optional.
See proxy_port.
url_suffix URL path to the server extension of the Relay Server. Required.
By default, the rsoe requires the url_suffix to be specified.

See url_suffix.
https 0 - HTTP (default)
1 - HTTPS

By default, MobiLink starts up the TCPIP communication protocol. When starting MobiLink for use with the RSOE, be sure to start the communication protocol required by your RSOE configuration. For example, if you specify HTTPS as the back-end security, then MobiLink must be started with HTTPS. See -x mlsrv12 option.

When the https=1 parameter is included in the -cs option, the default port changes to 443.

For https=1, the following options can also be specified:

tls_type RSA or ECC
certificate_name Common name field of the certificate.
certificate_company Organization name field of the certificate.
certificate_unit Organization unit field of the certificate.
identity Provides the credentials to establish mutually-authenticated TLS between the Outbound Enabler and the back-end server. Note that mutual authentication is required for the back-end server.
identity_password Provides the credentials to establish mutually-authenticated TLS between the Outbound Enabler and the back-end server. Note that mutual authentication is required for the back-end server.
fips Yes or no.

trusted_certificates A file containing a list of trusted root certificates.

To verify the back-end server, and only the back-end server, set this property to backend_server_public_cert_filename.

trusted_certificates=backend_server_public_cert_filename

For Windows, if trusted_certificate is not set, the operating system certificate store is used.

For more information, see MobiLink client network protocol options.

-cs "connection-string"

Sets the host and port used to connect to the back-end server. The default is "host=localhost;port=80".

To enable periodic back-end server status requests, add the status_url parameter to -cs. The status_url parameter is specified in the format status_url=/your-status-url.

The following example shows how to specify status_url with -cs.

-cs "host=localhost;port=80;status_url=/getstatus/"

Use the -d option to specify the frequency of the back-end server status requests.

-d seconds

Sets the frequency of the back-end server liveness ping and back-end server status request. The default is 5 seconds.

-dl

Use this option to display log messages in the Relay Server Outbound Enabler console. By default, log messages are not displayed for verbosity levels 1 and 2.

-f farm

Specifies the name of the farm that the back-end server belongs to.

-id id

Specifies the name assigned to the back-end server.

-o file

Specifies the file to log output messages to.

-oq

Prevents the appearance of the error window when a startup error occurs.

-os

Sets the maximum size of the message log files. The minimum size limit is 10 KB.

-ot

Truncates the log file and logs messages to it.

-q

Run with a minimized window on startup.

-qc

Shuts down the window on completion.

-s

Stops the Outbound Enabler.

-t token

Sets the security token to be passed to the Relay Server.

-uc

Starts the rsoe in shell mode. This is the default. Applies to Unix and Mac OS X.

You should only specify one of -uc, -ui, -um, or -ux. When you specify -uc, this starts the rsoe in the same manner as previous releases of the software.

-ud

Instructs the rsoe to run as a daemon. This option applies to Unix platforms only.

-ui

Starts the rsoe in shell mode if a usable display is not available. This option is for Linux with X window server support.

When -ui is specified, the server attempts to find a usable display. If it cannot find one, for example because the X window server isn't running, then the rsoe starts in shell mode.

-ux

For Linux, opens the rsoe messages window where messages are displayed.

When -ux is specified, the rsoe must be able to find a usable display. If it cannot find one, for example because the DISPLAY environment variable is not set or because the X window server is not running, the rsoe fails to start.

To run the rsoe messages window in quiet mode, use -q.

On Windows, the rsoe messages window appears automatically.

-v level

Set the verbosity level to use for logging. The level can be 0, 1, 2, or higher (higher levels are used primarily for technical support):

0 Log errors only. Use this logging level for deployment.
1 Session level logging. This is a higher level view of a synchronization session.
2 Request level logging. Provides a more detailed view of HTTP requests.
3 or higher Detailed logging. Used primarily for technical support.

Levels 1 and 2 are only written to the log file and are not displayed. To have all log messages displayed, use the -dl switch.

File Hiding utility (dbfhide)

Syntax

dbfhide original-configuration-file encrypted-configuration-file

Option	Description
original-configuration-file	Specifies the name of the original file.
encrypted-configuration-file	Specifies a name for the new obfuscated file.

The Relay Server and Outbound Enabler detect that a configuration file has been obfuscated using dbfhide and process it.

This utility does not accept the @data parameter to read in options from a configuration file.

Integrated Outbound Enabler (recommended for MobiLink)

By using the oe protocol for the -x option for mlsrv12, you can use an integrated Outbound Enabler instead of the stand-alone Outbound Enabler invoked with the rsoe command. Using the integrated Outbound Enabler has the following advantages:

Reduced use of system resources, especially sockets.
Provides a single, integrated log file. Lines printed to the MobiLink server log from the integrated Outbound Enabler will have the prefix <OE>.
Deployment is simplified.
Liveness checks between the Outbound Enabler and the MobiLink server are eliminated.

For more information about how to use the integrated Outbound Enabler, see -x mlsrv12 option.

Deployment considerations

The following considerations should be noted when using the Outbound Enabler:

Outbound Enabler as a service The Outbound Enabler may also be set up and maintained as a service using the Service utility.
Authentication You cannot use simple or digest authentication. The rsoe.exe does not support simple or digest authentication with web servers, regardless of the web server type or operating system.