HTTP SMSC

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The gateway supports the HTTP (Hyper Text Transport Protocol) protocol to connect to an SMSC over the internet or other private TCP/IP network. In addition to connecting to other services, this allows you to make connections to another Now SMS/MMS gateway, which can be useful for “least cost routing” of SMS messages between gateways over TCP/IP.

To add an HTTP connection, select “Add” from the “SMSC” tab of the gateway dialog. Then select “HTTP over TCP/IP”.

“Host Name” specifies a DNS host name or TCP/IP address for connecting to the service.

“Port Number” specifies the HTTP port number to use when connecting to the service.

“User name” and “Password” specify a user account and password to use when connecting to the service.

Check “Use HTTP Proxy” if the gateway must connect to the HTTP server via a proxy server, and supply the host name or TCP/IP address and port number of the proxy server in the “Proxy Server” field using a format of “host.name:9999”, where “host.name” is the DNS host name or TCP/IP address of the proxy server, and “9999” is the port number of the proxy server.

“Send login credentials using HTTP Authorization headers” refers to how the user name and password information is sent to the HTTP server. The login information can either be sent as replaceable parameters in the URL request, or using the “HTTP Authorization” header. Check this box to use the “HTTP Authorization” header. This box should be checked when connecting with another Now SMS/MMS gateway.

“Server Type” provides pre-defined templates for connections to common gateway interfaces. If you are connecting to one of the servers with a pre-defined template, such as another Now SMS/MMS gateway, select its server type here. Otherwise, select “Custom” to define a custom template.

“URL Template Text” is a URL template that is used when sending text SMS messages. When the gateway has a text SMS message to send, it connects to the HTTP server and issues the URL request specified in this field, replacing the “replaceable parameters” with values for the message to be sent. A complete list of “replaceable parameters” is provided below.

“URL Template Binary” is a URL template that is used when sending binary SMS messages. When the gateway has a text SMS message to send, it connects to the HTTP server and issues the URL request specified in this field, replacing the “replaceable parameters” with values for the message to be sent. A complete list of “replaceable parameters” is provided below.

URL Template Replaceable Parameters:

@@UserName@@	The user name configured for this connection (optional)
@@Password@@	The password configured for this connection (optional)
@@PhoneNumber@@	The phone number of the recipient to receive this SMS message (required)
@@Text@@	The text of the SMS message (required for text messages)
@@Data@@	The data of the SMS message in binary format as a string of hexadecimal characters (either this or @@DataBin@@ required for binary messages)
@@DataBin@@	The data of the SMS message in binary format as the actual binary data in URL escaped format (either this or @@Data@@ required for binary messages)
@@UDH@@	The “User Data Header” of a binary message as a string of hexadecimal characters (either this or @@UDHBin@@ required for binary messages)
@@UDHBin@@	The “User Data Header” of a binary message in binary format as the actual binary data in URL escaped format (either this or @@UDH@@ required for binary messages)
@@PID@@	SMS “Protocol ID” field as a hexadecimal value
@@PIDdecimal@@	SMS “Protocol ID” field as a decimal value
@@DCS@@	SMS “Data Coding Scheme” field as a hexadecimal value
@@DCSdecimal@@	SMS “Data Coding Scheme” field as a decimal value.
@@Sender@@	Phone number to be included as the sender of this message.

Check “Remove ‘+’ from Recipient Phone Number” if the gateway should remove the “+” character from international phone numbers before submitting the message to the HTTP SMSC. HTTP SMSC interfaces based upon the Kannel product expect the “+” character to be removed.

The “Routing” group of options is used when multiple SMSC connections are defined to the gateway. These options define what messages should be routed to this connection. The Routing options are common to SMPP, GSM Modem, UCP/EMI and HTTP connections, and are described in the help file.

When the “OK” button is selected, the gateway will attempt to connect to the HTPP server to verify the configuration information provided. Diagnostic information will be displayed if the connection fails. The connection will only be added to the configuration after a successful connection to the HTTP server. Note that although a connection attempt was successful, you should attempt to send a message through the interface to verify that the URL templates are defined correctly.