HL7 Questions And Answers

Please feel free to send us any questions you have about HL7 and HL7 Interfaces at support@transworldscribe.com and if possible we will answer them here in this Blog/FAQ!

 

How To: Troubleshoot Problems With Your HL7 TCP/IP Listener

Version 3.0.0

 

 

Most of the ideas discussed in this video are shown in this YouTube Video.

 

A software system like the CORE HL7 TCP/IP Listener is very user-friendly and easy to set-up, configure, and use, but everyone should be aware that  with any type of HL7 TCP/IP Listener there are several things which can cause problems. Typically these are only problems which occur up front as you are creating your first inbound interfaces, and as time goes on, you become more proficient at recognizing potential problems before they occur. What you should always be able to do is diagnose exactly what type of problem you are having. Here are a couple of the issues that we have most commonly worked with customers to resolve:

 

1>Your trading partner claims that they cannot connect to the listener. 

  • Verify that your listener is listening. If not, work that problem by running locally, verifying the data folder, message envelope characters, etc, otherwise continue.

  • Is it listening on the same computer BUT your trading partner cannot connect to it from their remote server? If this is the case 99% of the time this is a network issue and has nothing to do with the CORE HL7 Listener. Keep working the problem.

  • Verify that your firewall is not blocking traffic to the port on your computer / server.

  • Verify that their firewall is not blocking outbound traffic to your IP address and port number.

  • If your trading partner is connecting to your computer via a VPN verify that the VPN is working correctly and not blocking traffic or dropping connections.

  • Does it work when running locally but fails when running as a Windows Service? If so, then this is a user rights issue 99% of the time. Make sure that the Windows Service runs as a domain user who has sufficient rights.

 

2> Your trading partner claims that they are not receiving HL7 Acknowledgements.

  • Verify that the CORE Listener is sending acknowledgements. You can do this by checking the daily Traffic Logs. If the Traffic Logs indicate that no ACK was sent change the Send Acknowledgement setting in your listener profile to ALWAYS from AUTOMATIC. If the logs say that the ACKS ARE being sent, continue.
  • Ask your trading partner how long their system will wait for the ACK to be returned. This is a setting which will be in every HL7 TCP/IP Sender regardless of the manufacturer. The CORE HL7 Listener will typically return the ACK (if it is sending one) within 10-30 milliseconds.