Value Added Service Providers (VASPs) are external application services that need to submit MMS messages to the Now SMS/MMS Gateway.

A VASP could be a customer that is submitting MMS messages through your gateway, or in some cases, a VASP account could be an operator MMSC delivering MMS messages to your gateway. VASP accounts are defined on the "MMSC VASP" page of the configuration dialog.

When you "Add" or "Edit" a VASP connection, the following screen is displayed:

"Account Name" specifies a login name for the VASP to login to your Now SMS/MMS Gateway.

In some cases, where a VASP does not have configuration settings to login to the gateway, you should specify an IP address. When an IP address is specified as the "Account Name", the Now SMS/MMS Gateway will treat any connections from the specified IP address as being from this defined VASP.

"Password" specifies a password for the VASP to login to your Now SMS/MMS Gateway.

"Account Description" is a descriptive field that can be associated with the VASP. It is not used for any purposes of the VASP making a connection to the gateway.

"IP Address Restrictions" specifies one or more IP addresses from which the account is allowed to login to the MMSC. If multiple IP addresses are specified, they should be separated by a comma only, with no white space characters. The "*" character is permitted as a wildcard to allow access from all IP addresses on a particular subnet.

VASPs can connect to the MMSC using any of the following protocols: MM7, MM4, MM1 or EAIF. The "Accept Connections via" setting allows you to select the protocols that this particular VASP is allowed to use when connecting to the MMSC. (Note: As EAIF and MM1 are very similar protocols, if MM1 is enabled, EAIF is automatically enabled, and vice versa.)

When a VASP connects to the MMSC using the MM7 protocol, it should make connections to the configured "HTTP Port Number" on the "MMSC" page of the configuration dialog, using a URL path of "/mm7" (e.g., http://host.name:port/mm7). Unless an IP Address is specified as the "Account Name", the application should authenticate to the MMSC using HTTP Basic Authentication using the configured "Account Name" and "Password" for the VASP account.

When a VASP connects to the MMSC using the MM4 protocol, it should make connections to the configured "SMTP Port Number" on the "MMSC" page of the configuration dialog. Unless an IP address is specified as the "Account Name", the application should use "SMTP AUTH" to authenticate to the MMSC.

When a VASP connects to the MMSC using the EAIF protocol, it should make connections to the configured "HTTP Port Number" on the "MMSC" page of the configuration dialog, using a URL path of "/eaif". Unless an IP Address is specified as the "Account Name", the application should authenticate to the MMSC using either HTTP Basic Authentication, or it can include the username and password in the URL using the following format (http://host.name:port/eaif/username=password).

When a VASP connects to the MMSC using the MM1 protocol, it should make connections to the configured "HTTP Port Number" on the "MMSC" page of the configuration dialog, using a URL path of "/mm1". Unless an IP Address is specified as the "Account Name", the application should authenticate to the MMSC using either HTTP Basic Authentication, or it can include the username and password in the URL using the following format (http://host.name:port/mm1/username=password).

When the Now SMS/MMS Gateway receives a message from a VASP account, four options are available for processing the received message.

"Standard MMS Delivery" means the message will be queued for outbound delivery by the MMSC as would any other MMS message submitted to the gateway.

"Receive to MMS-IN Directory" means that the message will be received and stored to the "MMS-IN" subdirectory of the gateway as a received message file, and will not be delivered externally to the gateway.

"Route via MM7" means that the message will be received and routed to an MM7 connection that is defined in the "MMSC Routing" page of the configuration dialog.

"Forward to E-Mail Address" means that the message will be forwarded to a specified e-mail address.