Healthcheck of an Issuer API Endpoint

[MAC]

Can anyone point me to the means by which Visa 'healthcheck' an Issuer endpoint it is calling out to?

I appreciate that the heath and/or connectivity of our endpoint can be inferred, but I was hoping to find a specific liveness/health check out to the Issuer within the API reference.

How does Visa know when to STIP?  Is it inferred only?

[SyedSa]

Hi @MAC, Thank you for reaching out. An agent will get back to you as soon as possible. Until then, if any community member has information that may be helpful, feel free to reply in this thread.

[DianaVisaPM]

Hey @MAC,

Health Check of an Issuer API Endpoint

Visa does not provide a specific "liveness/health check" API endpoint that can be used to directly monitor the health of issuer endpoints. However, Visa employs several mechanisms and best practices to ensure the reliability and availability of its services, which indirectly contribute to monitoring the health of issuer endpoints.

Mechanisms for Monitoring Endpoint Health

1. Heartbeat and Monitoring Tools:

Visa uses various monitoring tools and techniques to ensure the continuous availability and performance of its services. These tools can monitor transaction success rates, response times, and error rates to infer the health of issuer endpoints.

2. Transaction Monitoring:

Visa monitors transaction flows and success rates to detect anomalies or failures. If an issuer endpoint fails to respond or returns errors consistently, Visa can infer that there may be an issue with the issuer's endpoint.

3. Alerts and Notifications:

Visa has systems in place to alert and notify relevant stakeholders, including issuers, when there are connectivity issues or other problems with their endpoints.

Stand-In Processing (STIP)

Stand-In Processing (STIP) is a mechanism that Visa uses to ensure transaction continuity even when the issuer's systems are unavailable. Here's how Visa determines when to STIP:

1. Transaction Timeouts:

If a transaction request to the issuer times out or fails, Visa may initiate STIP to approve or decline the transaction based on predefined criteria and historical transaction data.

2. Error Responses:

If the issuer's endpoint returns specific error responses indicating that it is unable to process the transaction, Visa can activate STIP as a fallback mechanism.

3. Predefined Rules:

Visa and issuers can set up predefined rules and criteria for when STIP should be activated. These rules may include conditions such as maximum response time, specific error codes, or transaction volume thresholds.

Conclusion

Visa does not provide a specific health check API for issuer endpoints, but it employs various monitoring and transaction management techniques to ensure service reliability. Stand-In Processing (STIP) is activated based on transaction timeouts, error responses, and predefined rules.