Should C-ECHO cares about requesting AET ?

[salim....@gmail.com]

Hi there,

I have a simple question about the C-Echo Protocol.

In the latest version of Orthanc C-Echo is rejected by Orthanc if the calling AET is unknown.
In most of DICOM nodes I know the DICOM server responds to C-ECHO whatever the calling AET is known or not (actually act like a DICOM ping with no need of authentication).

We discussed about that point with Orthanc leaders (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/orthanc-users/g0gDq4PlJjc) and we want to get advise from the DICOM communauty.

So the questions are pretty simple :

- Is there an official recommandation about C-Echo, should it verify that the called AET is declared or should it responds anyway like a ping ?

- If not official recommandation is known what is the usual way to do in DICOM nodes, should calling AET be verified as a known AET before ansewring a C-ECHO.

Thank you for your help,

Salim

[Ulrich Busch]

In my mind this depends on the policy of the system providing the looked-for services in question (Storage, Q/R...).
This system may have a policy only to allow configured AET, hosts, ports etc. to use such services. If this is the case, it is beneficial that Echo is handled along the same policy. Then the user of Echo knows, whether he will be able to access the system for the services he is looking for (no-one is interested to just use Echo, besides of engineers :-) ). If the SCP responds properly, telling e.g. that the AET is not accepted and the SCU displays the response, the user gets what he is looking for: Will I have access to this system or not.

[Salim Kanoun]

Thank you for your response.
I'm going to propose that to Orthanc team.

Meanwhile,if someone has other suggestions or thought, we are still listing.

Best regards

Salim