In Iguana, a channel defines an interface between a source of messages and their intended destination. Each channel contains a source component, which describes the message source, and a destination component, which describes the message destination.

Examples of possible message sources and destinations include:

• An LLP Client application that sends LLP-encoded HL7 messages;
• An LLP Listener application that receives these messages;
• A database or file on your system;
• An HTTPS connection to another Iguana server (Iguana 4.0 or later only).

In addition, channels can be configured to perform the following tasks:

• Filter messages;
• Route messages to multiple destinations;
• Receive messages from multiple sources (Iguana 4.0 or later only);
• Read messages from and write messages to files or databases;
• Translate messages from HL7 format to XML, and XML to HL7.

The following diagram illustrates a sample channel. Its source component is an LLP Listener that listens on a specified port for LLP-encoded HL7 messages, and its destination component is a database.

Channel Concept, with LLP Listener as the Source and Database as the Destination

The following sections, Channel Source Components and Channel Destination Components, describe the source and destination components that can be specified for an Iguana channel. For information on how to create a channel in Iguana, refer to one of the following pages:

• If you are using Iguana 4.0 or later, see Creating a Channel.
• If you are using an older version of Iguana, see Configuring Channels.