Nettalk Webservice and Issue with ASP xml sending

[Edwin Hannan]

Hi All

Just recently an external company cannot post xml data to the NetTalk webserver (V9.06) at my clients office running on a win 7 Pro PC
but I can using SOAPUI

I have not changed anything since 2016 (since I compiled with C10) and the external company also state that they have not changed anything.

On the Nettalk server window I can see my posts but nothing is displayed at all for their posts, they receive a server error 500.

I have DebugView++ running at the moment but again only see my posts.

I have spoken with their IT guy and he reckons only updated win7 and will soon upgrade to win 10 before win 7 is depracated

Any help and advice welcome

Chers

Edwin
Edwin Hannan
C10, NT 9.06

[urayoan]

Edwin, does the web server use certificates with SSL connections? Looks like you are having a problem with SSL protocols (deprecated ones).

[Edwin Hannan]

Hi Urayoan

Only my Self signed NT Server one which does not expire until 2025 header below:-

CipherSuite:
TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
PeerPrincipal:
EMAILADDRESS=edwin.hannan@blueskyitandsoftware.co.uk, CN=ITDEPT-ED, OU=FinanceITapi, O=Bluesky IT, L=Manchester, ST=Greater Manchester, C=UK
Peer Certificate 1:
[
[
  Version: V1
  Subject: EMAILADDRESS=edwin.hannan@blueskyitandsoftware.co.uk, CN=ITDEPT-ED, OU=FinanceITapi, O=Bluesky IT, L=Manchester, ST=Greater Manchester, C=UK
  Signature Algorithm: SHA256withRSA, OID = 1.2.840.113549.1.1.11

  Key:  Sun RSA public key, 2048 bits
  modulus: 2459478631364913316100433316431222869114977509103524197027971522892348056617669176665886643128101524305816958241506769713659192601811046887689854132538275715669910000450522801138043819178216882057929311843965298556737947011239096397773177133089998199817491321591***** etc...
  public exponent: 65537
  Validity: [From: Tue Dec 29 17:40:43 GMT 2015,
               To: Fri Dec 26 17:40:43 GMT 2025]
  Issuer: EMAILADDRESS=edwin.hannan@blueskyitandsoftware.co.uk, CN=www.blueskyitandsoftware.co.uk, OU=API Development, O=Bluesky IT, L=Manchester, ST=Greater Manchester, C=UK
  SerialNumber: [    9aa4cd0f 3b8327d8]

************ End

My SOAP Test Suite can post no issues so what does the external party or me  need to do to to have the classic ASP post xml work again?

Is there any info needed to prove / test why this is happening?

Thanks

Edwin

[Edwin Hannan]

Hi All

I have just installed Postman and tested a connection to the Network Server and it reported the following:-

Could not get any response
There was an error connecting to https://81.133.172.229:8083/Database.

Why this might have happened:

The server couldn't send a response: Ensure that the backend is working properly
Self-signed SSL certificates are being blocked: Fix this by turning off 'SSL certificate verification' in Settings > General
Proxy configured incorrectly: Ensure that proxy is configured correctly in Settings > Proxy
Request timeout: Change request timeout in Settings > General
 
I then turned SSL certificate verification' off and I was allowed in.

I have advised third party to turn off SSL cert verfication and test again.

I will also look into installing a SSL cert (non self signed) with the customer.

Will let you know if this has fixed it for them

Thanks

Edwin

[Edwin Hannan]

Hi

Update - no posts received from external company yet.

Here is their asp code (zip file attached, xml-insert -submit, 3k) for any one to have a look at to spot any issues.

Do I need to update my Nettalk server with any ssl  protocols / update the nettalk software (its been a while :-)

Any advice welcome

Thanks

Edwin
C10, NT9.06

[urayoan]

Edwin, in Postman, check in the settings and turn of the SSL certificate validation (see attached image).

I think is ASP they need to to the same when the call is made or prepared.

[Edwin Hannan]

Hi Urayoan

Yes, I have done that and asked them to look at that area in case something has changed on their server asp install.

I can see some activity on the web server from their tests but not been successful inserting any leads into the database


Debugview++ is on and logging so Will have another look tomorrow

Thanks for your help

Edwin

[Bruce]

>> I can see some activity on the web server from their tests

capture their test into notepad (using cut & paste) and then
capture one of your own tests (that works) into notepad and then
compare them.

cheers
Bruce

[Edwin Hannan]

Hi Bruce

Yep, sent the comparison to them last night

No further activity from them on the web server, I dont think any issues with the NT 9.06 server but willing to take any advice to help 3rd parties use the api, should I upgrade and add in a SSL / TLS from Letsencrypt for example?

Thaks

Edwin

[Bruce]

Hi Edwin,

>> should I upgrade and add in a SSL / TLS from Letsencrypt for example?

well, yes, you _should_ do that....
keeping up to date is a good practice for security reasons.
Is it the cause of the current problem? Unlikely - not impossible, but unlikely.
Should you be keeping up to date anyway? The answer to that is always "yes".

cheers
Bruce

[Edwin Hannan]

Hi Bruce

Thanks for your advice, is it real easy to use NT 11.xx with LetsEncrypt or other Cert  provider that you can recommend?

The 3rd party company still cannot post any xml using classic ASP (they did hit the server a few days ago but the xml was not as expected so it prob times out??)

I did send a comparison of my successful post xml (using SOAPUI) and their failed one and suggested they use whatever code in that post to connect with the server and reformat the xml as per the previous posts that have been successful for the past 3.5 years.

I would like to test post a classic asp form as xml to test my NT server but its something I am not familiar with (ASP and ASP.net) can anyone on this group help with me with this, point me in the right direction?

Please advise

Thanks again for all you help

Edwin

[Bruce]

Hi Edwin,

>> is it real easy to use NT 11.xx with LetsEncrypt

yes.

<< they did hit the server a few days ago but the xml was not as expected so it prob times out??

they should get an immediate response even if their request is bad. I would not expect any sort of timeout - unless they made a request which it tool your procedure a _long_ time to process.

cheers
Bruce

[Edwin Hannan]

Hi All

the continuing issues with posting XML to the internal NT9/06web server.

Using SOAPUI - no issues can see the request on the server and a correct response is received
Using Postman - Issues - can see the request on server and an incorrect response received

Have DebugView++ running and the entry for Postman unsuccessful request is as follows:-

2019/11/26 12:03:15.697   111068   FCFWeb.exe   [st] [netTalk][thread=3] Database : No special action so Generating Service Documentation

What would cause this error for Postman and not SOAPUI (sending the exact same code POST).

I have attached the debugview++ log showing successful requests from SOAPUI and the failed action for the Postman request

Any Help much appreciated

Thanks

Edwin

[Edwin Hannan]

Hi All

I have noticed a difference in the header of each Post as follows:-

SOAPUI

*** Post from SOAPUI

POST /Database HTTP/1.1
Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflate
Content-Type: text/xml;charset=UTF-8
SOAPAction: "https://localhost:883/Database/dbCentral"
Content-Length: 1869
Host: 81.133.172.229:8083
Connection: Keep-Alive
User-Agent: Apache-HttpClient/4.1.1 (java 1.5)a cookie

POSTMAN

**** the post from Postman as per NT 9.06

POST /Database HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/xml
User-Agent: PostmanRuntime/7.20.1
Accept: */*
Cache-Control: no-cache
Postman-Token: 34203d6b-4639-446e-9281-e2b28528526e
Host: 81.133.172.229:8083
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Content-Length: 1910
Cookie: SESSIONID=2VwfjvEIIg1Bw8sGLfR3p3TeBNNvaI
Connection: keep-alive

Postman differences are,  is sending a token and a cookie, also cache control = no cache and Accept: */*

Please can you comment on the above

I will continue testing

Thanks

Edwin

[Edwin Hannan]

Hi

Can now get a response with an record ID from Postman but when checking database it is an empty record?
used this url as endpoint - https://81.133.172.229:8083/Database/dbCentral

SOAPUI continues to test ok with records being inserted on the test posts

I think my head is about to explode.

What am missing?? to get a successful post using postman?

Any help much appreciated

Thanks

Edwin