Configuring firewall settings for outbound (static) ports

If your network uses a firewall or other security mechanism that requires static ports for communication, then you must specify the ports that other computers can use to communicate with Access Server services.

Note: In addition to a network firewall, you might have personal firewall software installed and enabled on client machines. This firewall may cause a problem when connecting to Management Console from Access Server.

To calculate the number of Access Server ports to open, use this formula: number of ports to open = 2 * (number of users + (number of users * number of datastores) + number of datastores) where a datastore refers to an CDC Replication instance.

The following figure highlights the ports you can configure for Management Console and Access Server components. You can configure static port numbers for all or some of these ports, depending on your network requirements.

This figure displays the port configuration you will require for Access Server if you have a firewall or other security mechanism that requires static ports for communication.

The labels in the figure correspond to the following groups of ports:

  • 1—Communication from Management Console to the Access Server service. You specify this port when you install Access Server and when you log in to Management Console. The default port is 10101 and you can set this value in Management Console.
  • 2—Communication from Access Server back to Management Console for monitor updates.
  • 3—Communication from Management Console to the Access Server service, per datastore (that is, per CDC Replication instance). This requires two ports for each CDC Replication instance.
  • 4—Communication from the Access Server service to the datastore, listen process. This is established for each Management Console connection.
  • 5—Communication from the Access Server service to the datastore, monitor process. This is a shared connection between all Management Console connections on the same datastore. This requires two ports for each datastore.

You must also configure your routers and firewalls to allow communication through the configured ports. For more information, contact your network administrator.

Management Console requires:
  • One input and output port to the Access Server.
  • One input port from the Access Server
  • One input and output port per datastore (regardless of whether you connect to the datastore)
The Access Server requires:
  • One input and output port per datastore, per installation of Management Console
  • Two input and output ports, per datastore
Additionally, you can have more than one datastore, or more than one installation of Management Console; for example:
  • One installation of Management Console and one datastore
  • One installation of Management Console and two datastores
  • Two installations of Management Console and one datastore
  • Two installations of Management Console and two datastores

Example: calculating ports required

To help determine the number of ports required, take a scenario where there are ten concurrent users and three datastores.

To calculate the number of Access Server ports to open, use this formula: number of ports to open = 2 * (number of users + (number of users * number of datastores) + number of datastores) where a datastore refers to an CDC Replication instance.

Using the previously mentioned scenario of ten concurrent users and three datastores, the number of Access Server ports required is 86. Here is the breakdown of the calculation, following the order in the figure illustrating the ports you can configure for Management Console and Access Server components:
  • Number of concurrent users that will log into Access Server = 10
  • One port per user to connect to and deliver unsolicited message = 10
  • Number of possible concurrent connections from Management Console to connect to datastores); that is, 10 users * 3 datastores = 10 * 3
  • Number of possible concurrent connections to datastore, listen process; that is, 10 users * 3 datastores)
  • Two ports required to connect to each datastore, monitor process = 2 * 3
Therefore, 10 + 10 + (10 *3) + (10 *3) + (2 *3) = 86

To calculate the number of ports to open Management Console, use this formula:
number of ports to open = 2 + number of datastores

Using the previously mentioned scenario of ten concurrent users and three datastores, the number of ports required is 5 for each Management Console. This is the breakdown of the calculation for each Management Console:
  • Connection to Access Server = 1
  • Connection for unsolicited updates from Access Server = 1
  • One port for each connection to a datastore, listen process = 1 * 3
Therefore, 1 + 1 + (1 *3) = 5