***** EXTERNAL email. Please be cautious and evaluate before you click on links, open attachments, or provide credentials. *****

NOTICE DATE:  March 15, 2018

NOTICE TYPE:  M-B022818-02 Operations

SHORT DESCRIPTION:  UPDATE - Changes to programmatic access to ERCOT’s External Web Services, Secure Sockets Layer certificate upgrade and URL changes

INTENDED AUDIENCE:  Market Participant personnel that administer programmatic access to ERCOT’s production and testing environments and User Security Administrators (USAs)

DAYS AFFECTED:  March 7, 2018 and April 18, 2018

LONG DESCRIPTION:  This Market Notice contains two updates highlighted in yellow below:

1)  NEW MOTE/RMTE URLs for (WAN API) https://testmisapi.wan.ercot.com

2)  Production and MOTE/RMTE: DigiCertGlobalRootCAG2.cer (DigiCert Root Certificate).

On April 18, 2018, Market Participants will be required to use the new DigiCert SSL Intermediate and Root CA configuration for all programmatic access to ERCOT’s Production External Web Services API (MISAPI.ERCOT.COM and API.WAN.ERCOT.COM).

On April 18, 2018, ERCOT will also implement a configuration change to ensure that API communication from Market Participants into ERCOT’s production environment is sent with a handshake-level valid ERCOT issued Client Digital Certificate and each message signed with a valid ERCOT issued Client Digital Certificate.

In order to allow Market Participants to test their systems for the aforementioned changes to API configuration prior to the upgrade in ERCOT’s production environment, both changes will be implemented in ERCOT’s Market Operations Testing Environment (MOTE) and Retail Market Testing Environment (RMTE) on March 7, 2018 at 8:00 CPT.

Note that there is no impact to Market Participants who access the Market Information System (MIS) or other ERCOT websites through a web browser.

On March 7, 2018 at 8:00 CPT, ERCOT will change URLs for its Market Operations Testing Environment (MOTE) and Retail Market Testing Environment (RMTE) as shown below to standardize URL formats between its testing and production environments. 

Current MOTE/RMTE URLs:

·         (UI)                  https://testing.ercot.com

·         (API)               https://testingapi.ercot.com

·         (WAN API)     https://testingapi.wan.ercot.com

 

NEW MOTE/RMTE URLs:

·         (UI)                  https://testmis.ercot.com

·         (API)               https://testmisapi.ercot.com

·         (WAN API)     https://testmisapi.wan.ercot.com

 

ERCOT will leave the current MOTE/RMTE URLs available for testing confirmation and they will be retired once the changes are implemented in Production on April 18, 2018.

ACTION REQUIRED:  The following certificates are the minimum required for the new DigiCert SSL Intermediate and Root CA configuration to communicate to the ERCOT Web Service API for submissions, queries and report downloads.

Market Participants should either add these certificates to the existing keystore or create a blank keystore with just these certificates installed after the new DigiCert SSL Intermediate and Root CA configuration change to MOTE/RMTE on March 7, 2018, and Production on April 18, 2018. The entire SSL Chain will be required for both the Production and MOTE/RMTE environments for API communication. The Client Root Certificate is required for the respective environment.

·         Required SSL Chain Certificates:

·         Production and MOTE/RMTE

§  DigiCertGlobalIntermediateG2.cer (DigiCert Intermediate Certificate)

§  DigiCertGlobalRootCAG2.cer (DigiCert Root Certificate)

·         Required Client Root Certificates:

·         Production only

§  ERCOT_CA.cer (ERCOT’s Production 2048 Client Root Certificate)

·         MOTE/RMTE only

§  ERCOT_TEST_CA.cer (ERCOT's MOTE 2048 Client Root Certificate )

Market Participants must also ensure that all API communication into ERCOT’s production and testing environments is sent with a handshake-level valid ERCOT issued Client Digital Certificate and each message signed with a valid ERCOT issued Client Digital Certificate for MOTE/RMTE on March 7, 2018, and Production on April 18, 2018..

All Certificates are available for download on ERCOT.com at http://www.ercot.com/services/mdt/webservices/.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:  Details of a WebEx meeting to answer questions about the Production change will be provided once it is scheduled. 

CONTACT:  If you have any questions, please contact your ERCOT Account Manager. You may also call the general ERCOT Client Services phone number at (512) 248-3900 or contact ERCOT Client Services via email at [log in to unmask].

If you are receiving email from a public ERCOT distribution list that you no longer wish to receive, please follow this link in order to unsubscribe from this list: http://lists.ercot.com.

 

 

 

 

sa/mm