ERP Connector
Connecting your ERP system to the Netstock cloud servers involves:
The ERP server, on your network, runs your ERP system
The Comms server, in the cloud, co-ordinates data flow between the ERP server and the App server
The App server, in the cloud, runs the Netstock application
Upon installation
When you sign up:
Your instance of the App is created on one of our App servers
The Comms server is configured to allow secure communication between your ERP server and your new Netstock instance
A connector is installed on your ERP server that communicates with the Comms server, to send and receive data
Security considerations:
Each Netstock instance is created for a specific customer and is completely separate from other customers – there is no way for one customer to access the data of another
A secure 2048-bit public/private key combination is generated on the ERP server:
The private key never leaves the ERP server
The public key is sent to the Comms server via a web service call and is stored in the customer’s unique instance
All communication channels are encrypted with the public key and decrypted with the private key, meaning data cannot be intercepted between:
The ERP server and the Comms server
The Comms server and the App server
The comms server is secured by opening only necessary ports and firewalls, keeping your public key safe
The following firewall rules have to be set:
Port 80 (TCP) open from your ERP server to our Comms server
Port 443 (TCP) open from your ERP server to our Comms server
Remember, if you’re working through a WAN, then the same rules have to be set between your LAN, and your WAN, and between your WAN and our Comms server
You can also make use of a proxy server
Sending data from the ERP server
On a daily basis, data is extracted from your ERP server and sent to Netstock.
On the ERP server, the connector:
Runs the extracts against your ERP, creates standard csv files and compresses them using bzip2
Communicates with the Comms server using Secure FTP and your private key to send the compressed data via the encrypted channel, followed by an end of transmission web service call
On the Comms server:
The data is sent to the App server using Secure FTP
On the App server:
Upon receipt of the data, the files are unzipped and MD5 validation totals in a meta-data file are compared with the MD5 values computed for each file sent
Once it is established that the correct data has been received, the data is imported into your instance of the App
Sending data to the ERP server
On a more frequent basis, data such as recommended orders or custom reports are sent back to the ERP.
On the App server:
When a file is created, the Comms server is notified via a web service call
On the Comms server:
The file is retrieved using Secure FTP and compressed using bzip2
The list of files to be sent to the ERP is updated
On the ERP server:
The Comms server is polled via a web service call for new files
If new files are available, the ERP server retrieves the files using Secure FTP with its private key
The files are uncompressed and the Comms server notified of successful receipt