Skip to content

VDV 463 Setup and Connection Guide

This guide walks through the recommendations for establishing a secure WebSocket connection between an upstream presystem (BMS/ITCS) and the Charging Management System (CMS) according to the VDV 463 specification.

Repo scope

The current FastAPI application documents the VDV 463 contract and exposes the WebSocket route at /vdv463/ws, but it does not enforce the TLS, HTTP Basic Authentication, or WebSocket subprotocol requirements described below. Treat those items as deployment requirements from the standard.

Overview

The VDV463 interface uses secure WebSocket (WSS) communication where:

  • CMS acts as the WebSocket server
  • Upstream systems (BMS/ITCS) act as WebSocket clients
  • All communication is TLS-encrypted and authenticated

Key elements for integration

  1. WebSocket Client: Requires the upstream to implement a WebSocket client supporting RFC 6455
  2. TLS Support: Ensure TLS 1.2+ with cipher TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
  3. Authentication: Be able to store HTTP Basic Authentication credentials securely

Connection Parameters

Configure your upstream system with:

Parameter Value Example
Endpoint URL wss://<cms-host>:<port>/<path> wss://<region-name>.betterfleet.com:443/vdv463/ws
Presystem ID URI identifying your system uri://Customer1/Presystem1
Username Provided by CMS operator <your unique username>
Password Provided by CMS operator <secure-password>
Subprotocol v1.463.vdv.de Required

NOTE: The specific endpoint URL, username, and password must be obtained from the CMS operator and depend on your deployment.

Health Check

To manage health of the connection, best practices include:

  1. Monitor WebSocket state: Managing that the websocket connection remains OPEN, and handle CLOSING or CLOSED states appropriately
  2. Ping/Pong Frames: Optionally implement WebSocket ping/pong frames to detect stale connections
  3. Safely handle reconnection: Implement exponential backoff on connection failures. We recommend a 15 second delay, doubling on each failure up to a maximum of 5 minutes.

Support and References