Purpose
Connect is the second of four onboarding phases for the NSSP BioSense Platform. This guide takes site administrators through the steps, including confirming desired upload technology if a new feed connection needs to be established.
The process
This content is part of a series of online job aids related to onboarding. These resources are meant to be used together along with New Facility Onboarding —The Complete Guide.
Download this job aid: Phase 2: New Facility Steps to Connect
This guide takes site administrators through activities once the facility has connected to the production environment and is ready for routine operation. Sometimes the site administrator will oversee feed administrator tasks.
Phase 2—new facility steps to connect site administrator
STEP 1: Confirm desired upload technology if a new feed connection needs to be established. These are acceptable methods to connect to NSSP:
- SFTP (preferred)
- Public Health Information Network Messaging System (PHINMS)—Only for public health agencies and facilities with PHINMS installations that currently send data to and receive data from CDC or another PHINMS partner
When choosing between SFTP and PHINMS, consider the following:
- Is local support available?
- Is permission required to install SFTP or PHINMS?
- Will firewall rules be affected?
- SFTP: Outbound port 22
- PHINMS: Outbound port 443
If you are setting up a connection through an HIE or another non-standard method, the connection method could be different. Please work with your onboarding team for assistance.
STEP 2: Work with feed administrator to set up the connection. For help, contact the NSSP Service Desk. Select one of the following methods:
- Set up facility connection to existing site SFTP feed using SSH key pair for feed authentication.
- Request PHINMS authentication via NSSP Service Desk.
- Request new-feed setup and SSH key pair for feed authentication via NSSP Service Desk.
STEP 3: Configure your SFTP or PHINMS feed.
Commonly used third-party SFTP tools include:
- WinSCP—http://winscp.net
- FileZilla—https://filezilla-project.org
- Rhapsody and Mirth—Many HL7® data1 integration tools have SFTP capabilities and can beconfigured for SFTP uploads.
Work with the NSSP onboarding team to set up feed account and establish connectivity to the staging environment.
PHINMS guidance:
- Learn about the PHIN Messaging System
- To obtain current PHINMS software, email phintech@cdc.gov or call 1-800-532-9929.
Work with the NSSP onboarding team to configure feed connection.
STEP 4: Through your established feed, connect to the onboarding environment.
| Upload Path | /<site_name>/<feed_name>/incoming/ |
| Server Name | https://stage-collect.syndromicsurveillance.org |
| IP Address | 96.127.42.102 |
| SFTP Port | 22 |
STEP 5: If you are connecting through a new feed for the first time, once connected to onboarding environment, test connectivity by uploading a "hello world" test message to upload directory of your feed and confirm receipt.
KEY:
HIE: Health Information Exchange
PHINMS: Public Health Information Network Messaging System
SFTP: Secure File Transfer Protocol
SSH: Secure Shell (protocol)
- HL7® and FHIR® are the registered trademarks of Health Level Seven International, and their use of these trademarks does not constitute an endorsement by HL7.