The behavior of client-server communications within Agentry are the result of the transmit configuration definitions within the application and the corresponding configuration settings of the Agentry Server.
The configuration of the Agentry Server involves the modification of the Agentry.ini file and/or making changes through the SAP Control Center. There are several sections within this configuration file and which is modified is dependent on the type of communications in use for an implementation. The sections below correspond to the connection type of the transmit configuration definitions within the application. The default and recommended connection type is the Agentry Next Generation Encryption Layer protocol, or ANGEL.
The Agentry Next Generation Encryption Layer (ANGEL) communications protocol is the default connect type in Agentry versions 4.4 and later. This connection type provides secure communications using SSL/TLS encryption over TCP/IP connections. Previous releases of Agentry contained a Secure Network Connection protocol. ANGEL replaces this connection and is the recommended protocol for all transmit configurations within an application deployment. The Agentry.ini sections [ANGEL Front End] and [ANGEL Front End Ports] control the Server’s behavior for connections made using a transmit configuration with a connect type of ANGEL.
Unlike other connection types in Agentry, and in addition to its encryption behavior, Clients connecting using the ANGEL protocol open a single socket for communications with the Server. Also unlike other connection types, the Server is capable of receiving requests to multiple domains and listening on multiple ports for Client requests.
The final reason ANGEL is both the default connection type and is the one recommended for use is that the Midstation and Unsecured Network Connection types currently available for a transmit configuration definition are scheduled to be deprecated in a future release of Agentry.
The Web Browser (Internet Explorer) and BlackBerry® Handheld Browser (RIM BlackBerry devices) clients, collectively referred to here as “browser clients,” allow for applications to be deployed to users as HTML or WML pages. The Agentry Server in this case acts as a web server, serving up pages to the browser client that contain the UI of the application. The application must have the proper platform and screen definitions within its screen sets to support this behavior. Unlike the other connection types, the browser client does not correspond to a transmit configuration connection type.
The two configuration sections involved in configuring these communications are [Web Server Front End] and [Web Server MIME Types]. This connection type uses SSL to encrypt communications. This can also be authenticated SSL. The Server’s authentication certificates used by the [ANGEL] communications may also be used here. The web browsers on the clients must have the Server’s authentication certificate as a trusted certificate in order for synchronization to occur.
There are several aspects to the behavior of the application when the browser client’s are in use: all “client-side” processing is performed by the Server; certain functionality is implemented differently, or is not supported by the browser client; and other items. Differences are discussed in detail in the Agentry Reference Guide.
The TransmitConfigurationsBase.ini file contains one section for each transmit configuration defined within the application, denoted as [TransmitConfiguratioName]. The items within a section correspond to all of the attributes within the definition, with the values being those defined for the transmit configuration. The override file values will override those attributes on the Clients for the transmit configuration.
This file is provided for the purposes of localization or other similar needs. It is an optional file used to override defined behavior within the application. It is not needed for many implementations.