Network requirements (TCP/IP) for client/server products

Synergy/DE client/server products (xfServer, xfServerPlus, SQL OpenNet) all use TCP/IP for data transport. On Windows, License Manager server also uses TCP/IP to communicate.

When installing Synergy/DE client/server products, you need to have a thorough understanding of the installation, configuration, and troubleshooting of TCP/IP on the targeted client and server machines. Synergy/DE Developer Support cannot provide assistance with TCP/IP configuration issues. However, we provide a utility, synxfpng, for troubleshooting connections to xfServer, SQL OpenNet, and License Manager server. See synxfpng utility.

Before any client/server communication can occur, the client has to be able to locate and then connect to the host machine. You can use either an IP address or a host name to identify the host machine (except for License Manager when the configuration includes a backup license server; see Configuring a backup license server (Windows)).

Anytime there is a firewall between a client and a server, it will have to be configured to allow communication on the desired port. (On Windows, a rule is automatically applied to allow communication by License Manager server; see Cannot access Network License Server error for more information.)

If you use a host name to identify the server, either the etc/hosts file is used or the client machine performs a request to a DNS (Domain Name Server—a machine that all clients use to convert names to IP addresses). Machines are usually configured to use a primary DNS and, if the look-up fails there, try a secondary DNS. The failover time (the length of time the machine will look for the DNS before reporting a failure) can be several minutes.

A typical problem at installation time is that connections are very slow. This is usually due to a DNS look-up problem. You can use synxfpng to test this. See synxfpng utility for details.

Note

For OpenVMS TCP/IP requirements, see TCP/IP (Alpha).

Default ports used by client/server products

With the exception of SQL OpenNet on Windows and UNIX, Synergy/DE client/server products are assigned default ports. You can change this default if desired.

xfServer

The default port for xfServer is 2330. To change the port, see rsynd program or one of the following sections:

xfServerPlus

The default port for xfServerPlus is 2356. To change the port, see rsynd program or one of the following sections:

SQL OpenNet

SQL OpenNet has a default port only on OpenVMS, where it is 1958. On Windows and UNIX, you must specify a port. There are several ways to do this, depending on your operating system and how you are using SQL OpenNet. See the following sections:

License Manager server (Windows)

The default port for License Manager server is 2380. For information on using a non-default port, see Changing a license server’s port.