HTTP Client Connection
This chapter provides detailed instructions on how to
install and configure the HTTP Client service provider connection for
SMS messaging using the Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway software.
As you can read on the
Service Provider Connections page,
you need to install and configure one or more service provider
connections for SMS messaging using Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway. One of the
service provider connections supported by the software is the HTTP
Client connection.
The HTTP Client protocol can be used to connect
your PC directly to the SMSC for sending SMS messages over the
Internet. For each outgoing message an HTTP GET or HTTP POST request
is used. Text and binary SMS message types are supported.
You can install and configure this connection using the
graphical user interface of
Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway. To start installing and configuring an HTTP
Client connection, click the Add button in the top right-hand
corner of the Service providers panel on the left of the Management
Consoleinterface. (To find out how to open this interface, check out
the QuickStart Guide.)
You can also add a service provider connection by
clicking the Add service provider item in the Service
providers menu.
After you have clicked one of these, theAdd
service provider panel will show up on the right of the interface.
The panel contains a list of protocols you can install and use for
communication with an SMS service provider.
To select the HTTP Client protocol, click the
Install link in the respective entry in the list (Figure 1).
Figure 1 - Starting to install the HTTP Client connection
When you have installed the HTTP Client protocol,
the Configuration panel will show up on the right of the interface.
The first tab of the panel is the
HTTP settings tab, which consists of a Connection and an
Identification section.
In the Connection section,
specify the HTTP Client settings. This information is provided by
the SMS service provider when you subscribe to the service (Figure 2).
Figure 2 - The HTTP settings tab
First you need to specify the Target URL of
the HTTP server in the template. This URL can contain certain keywords
that will be replaced before the URL is called. The following keywords
can be used:
| Keyword | Description
|
| $originator | This denotes the sender telephone number. |
| $recipient | This denotes the recipient telephone number. |
| $messagedata | This denotes the first 1024 characters of
the message text. |
| $messageid | This is the unique identifier string of the message.
This identifier is generated by Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway. |
You can also determine the HTTP method: you
can select GET or POST.
Then, specify the telephone number assigned to this
connection and the service provider connection name. To facilitate
identification and to avoid confusion, you should name the connection
after the GSM service provider. E.g., if you have set up an HTTP Client
connection with Vodafone, it is advisable to name it "Vodafone". Also, note
that different connections should be given different names. If you have
different connections from the same service provider, you can use
different but similar names for them, e.g.: "Vodafone1", "Vodafone2"
(or something of the like). However, some load balancing solutions require
an identical name for different connections. For details, visit the
Load Balancing and the
Load Balancing for SMPP v3.3
page.
Enter the
information in the respective edit boxes. Remember to enter the phone
number in international format: starting with "+". You can check the
overridable checkbox to the right of the Telephone number
edit box. This ensures that you can replace the phone number specified
in the Telephone number edit box with a different one to be
displayed as the sender of an outgoing message. You can also replace
the number with (alphanumeric) text consisting of a maximum of eleven
(11) characters. Therefore, when a message is sent out, e.g. using the
Database user, you can specify
any different phone number or a name to be displayed as the sender of
the message.
Note that the phone number to be specified in the Telephone
number edit box is a mandatory value. If you leave the edit box blank,
the sending will be unsuccessful.
To perform general settings related to sending and
receiving SMS messages using the HTTP Client connection, click the
General Settings tab (Figure 3).
Figure 3 - The General settings tab
In the upper section of the panel you can check either or both
of the checkboxes. Which one(s) to check depends on what you wish to use
this connection for. You can choose to use the connection for only sending
or only receiving SMS messages (or both sending and receiving). Note that
HTTP Client connections are mainly used for sending messages.
However, it is possible to set up HTTP polling to download incoming messages
from an HTTP server. In the Polling interval edit box you can specify
the polling interval in seconds by entering a positive whole number in
numerical format. If you are content with the default specification (2
seconds), leave this edit box unchanged.
In the lower section of the tab you can make choices
and specifications to handle your connection to the SMS Center and the
status of your SMS messages.
In the Submit timeout edit box you can specify the
maximum waiting time for an SMS Center response confirming that your message
has been successfully submitted. Successful submission means that the SMS Center
has accepted the message for delivery. You can specify the waiting time by giving
the number of seconds in numerical characters representing any positive
whole number. If you are content with the default specification (60 seconds),
leave this edit box unchanged.
You can choose how to consider a message you have sent
if there is no response from the SMS Center after the specified length of time.
Select one of the three radio buttons.
- Select Sent to consider a message sent even if there is no
response from the SMS Center.
- Select Not sent to consider a message not sent if there is no
response from the SMS Center.
- Select Retry later to make the program try to send a message
later if the SMS Center
has not confirmed its status as sent. Then, the message will be placed last in
the outgoing message queue and sent out again when it is its turn.
To configure logging, click the Logging tab in
theConfiguration panel.
You can choose whether to make the program write log entries about sent
and received messages in human readable format and/or log low level
communication. Choosing the latter option will make the program produce
logfiles containing binary codes representing the communication data.
You should check at least the Log sent and received messages in
human readable format checkbox, as logfiles can be useful in debugging
communication problems (Figure 4).
Figure 4 - Logging options
In the Log file settings section of the tab, you can
make specifications for the size and the number of available logfiles.
Log rotation saves disk space, as it ensures that older (and probably no
longer needed) logfiles will be automatically deleted from the log directory,
which is specified in the Log directory text box. By default, the
access path to the logfiles is: C:\Program Files\Ozeki\OzekiNG -
SMS Gateway\Logs
In the Maximum log file size text box you can
specify the maximum size of a logfile. Once this size is reached, a new
logfile will be created. Specify the number of kilobytes for the size of
a logfile by entering a positive whole number. By default, the maximum
logfile size is 8000 kB.
In the Number of rotated files text box, specify
the maximum number of rotated logfiles that are saved. Specify this number
by entering a positive whole number. By default, the number of logfiles
that are saved is 4 (see Figure 4 above).
If you are content with the default specifications, leave
the text boxes unchanged.
On Response parsing tab you can provide a keyword
for response messages on successful delivery and keyword in response on
failed delivery (Figure 5).
By default a message delivery is considered successful if the HTTP server
responds with an HTTP 200 OK. Some providers return HTTP 200 OK on all
submissions and put the status code, that indicates delivery success into
the HTTP message body. If this is the case, specify a keyword to search for
in the message body.
If there is no keyword that indicates successful delivery, you can specify
a keyword that indicates failed delivery. If this keyword is specified,
Ozeki NG will consider a message delivered to the network only if this
keyword is not present in the HTTP message body returned by the HTTP server.
Figure 5 - Response parsing tab
The Info tab enlists the following keywords that
can be used in the HTTP template. These keywords will be replaced to the
appropriate values prior to the HTTP request is made. The meaning of these
values are explained on the following webpage:
http://www.ozekisms.com/index.php?owpn=353.
Figure 6 - Info tab
The Configuration panel for service provider
connections contains a Connect automatically on startup checkbox
(in the bottom left-hand corner). If it is checked, Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway
will automatically initiate a connection with the SMS Center when the
program has started. If this checkbox is not checked, the connection
has to be initiated manually.
To initiate the connection manually, click the Connect
link in the panel of the service provider connection (Figure 7).
Figure 7 - Links to operations
You can open the panel of a service provider connection
by clicking its name in the Service providers panel in
the Management Console.
The panel of a service provider connection consists of
three sections.
- In the upper section you can find the name of the service provider
connection (with the name of its protocol in brackets).
- You can see an icon showing if the service provider connection
is connected. If it is not, the icon is marked with an "x".
To the right of the icon you can find links to perform
different operations.
- Configure: to configure or modify the configuration
of an installed service provider connection. Clicking this link will take
you back to the Configuration panel.
- Events: to view the logging of the latest server events
related to the service provider connection. Clicking it will bring up
the Events panel containing the logging of the latest server events.
- Connect: to connect the service provider connection with the SMS
Center.
- Disconnect: to disconnect the service provider connection from
the SMS Center.
- Uninstall: to uninstall the service provider connection.
In the middle section of the panel you can see some of
the most important configuration information.
- The options that have been (re)activated
during the configuration are marked with a tick.
- The options that have not been
activated or those that have been deactivated during the
configuration are marked with an "x".
In the lower section of the panel of the service
provider connection you can read some information about its protocol.
More information
Next page:
HTTP Variables
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