Chances are, the idea of opening up access to your AS2 services outside your secure, load-balanced network inspires cringe-worthy visions of hours wading through configuration esoterica with nothing but the most brutally terse of man pages to guide you. To the rescue, RSSBus' web-ready AS2 Connector makes nightmares like these a thing of the past.

It gets better: pairing AS2 Connector with Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud service gives you the levity to forget about having to build, host and scale your AS2 services ever again.

Follow this tutorial and learn the few short steps you need to deploy AS2 Connector on Windows Azure.

A Base Assumption

For the purposes of this article, we assume you already have an active Windows Azure subscription. You can find more information on Microsoft's subscription offers on the Windows Azure website.

Deploying AS2 Connector to Windows Azure

Deploying services to Windows Azure requires three files: a signed certificate (.pfx file), a Cloud Service Package (.cspkg), and a Cloud Service Configuration (.cscfg). First we'll create a self-signed certificate and then create a hosted service on Windows Azure with a pre-packaged version of AS2 Connector.

Creating a Certificate

Windows Azure accepts a variety of certificates. For this article, we'll create a self-signed certificate, since they're relatively easy to create and sufficiently secure for basic uses.

1. In Windows, open the IIS Manager.
2. Under the IIS heading in the middle pane, double-click the Server Certificates icon.
3. Under the Actions panel on the right hand side, select Create Self-Signed Certificate...
4. A dialog will appear asking you to name your certificate. When you're done, the new certificate will appear in the Server Certificates pane.
5. Right-click on the newly created certificate and select Export. Complete the export dialog that pops up.

Creating and Deploying a Hosted Service

1. Download the RSSBus AS2 Connector package and configuration files for Windows Azure.
2. Log into Windows Azure. You will be presented with the Management Portal.
3. On the ribbon up top, select New Hosted Service.
4. A configuration dialog will pop up. Fill in the relevant details. There are several details of note to be aware of:
   • Under Deployment options, select Deploy to stage environment.
   • For Package location and Configuration file, you'll want to select the files downloaded in the first step of this section.
   • When you click Add Certificate, you will want to provide the self-signed certificate you created in the previous section.
5. When you are finished, click OK. Windows Azure will upload, initialize, and start AS2 Connector. This process may take several minutes.
6. Select the deployment after its status indicates that it's ready. In the right hand panel, you will see a property entitled DNS name. Click on the link below that.
7. A new tab appears presenting you with the RSSBus AppServer login page. Enter the following default credentials:
   • User: admin
   • Password: test

Now AS2 Connector is fully deployed. All you have to do after this is simply configure your AS2 Connector Profile and add your AS2 partners and you're in business.