The RKL eSolutions team has been fielding a number of calls this week from customers who are experiencing issues with Sage Exchange errors in Sage 500 or through the RKL eSolutions Web Services stack.
In cooperation with our valued customers we have identified that there is an issue with Windows Server 2003 and a recent change to the Sage Payment Solutions services. This is a known issue to Sage Payment Solutions and they have already posted a knowledge base article and recommended fix. The link to this can be found later in this post.
Sage Exchange Security Updated
Sage Payment Solutions has updated the type of security certificate they are using with Sage Exchange from SHA-1 to SHA-2. This is the security certificate used for SSL and code signing. SHA-1 is slowly being retired across the Internet in favor of the stronger encryption algorithm of SHA-2.
SHA-2 and Windows Server 2003 Compatibility
Windows Server 2003 R2 does not contain intrinsic support for SHA-2, and therefore applications running on this platform will encounter communications failures when trying to connect to an https site or resource that is secured with this newer certificate type. Older versions of Sage 500 (7.4 and earlier) running on Windows Server 2003 R2 will therefore be unable to connect to the SPS servers and unable to transact any credit card transactions. A variety of errors will appear, usually indicating that some type of failure to connect or communications failure has occurred.
Sage Payment Solutions Article and Microsoft Hotfix
There are two Windows Hotfix releases available from Microsoft to address this scenario. It is not a fix that is included in any Windows Update or Service Pack - it must be downloaded and installed separately. For more details about the issue from Sage Payment Solutions, and for links to the relevant Microsoft Technet and Knowledge Base articles, please follow this link:
Recommended: Update Windows Server 2003 R2
RKL eSolutions recommends that our customers consider updating any Windows Server 2003 R2 installations with this hotfix, whether or not they are running Sage 500 or the web services stack on that server. Numerous websites and web services will be updating their SSL certificates this year to SHA-2 and it is important that you prepare your servers for this change ahead of time.
If you have questions about this issue or the suggested Windows Hotfix to correct it, please contact RKL eSolutions.
