Planning your network topology

Where to place your IBM Traveler server in your network depends on the types of devices used and sync types. This section includes a list of possible scenarios and why one might be selected over another.

IBM Verse and IBM Mail Support for Microsoft Outlook clients

The IBM Verse clients running on Apple and Android devices and the IBM Mail Client for Microsoft Outlook (IMSMO) use a single communication channel for data syncing. Both clients support Push notification via Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) or Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) on Android devices and Apple Push Notification service (APNs) on Apple devices.

The data sync channel uses HTTP or HTTPS to communicate with the server. This channel is always initiated from the mobile device. You should secure the channel either through a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or by using HTTPS so that all data sent is encrypted. FCM or GCM and APNs notifications are received by the IBM Verse Client which then initiates a data sync request.

Other devices

Supported third-party clients that use the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol, for example Apple iOS mail clients, use either HTTP or HTTPS communication channels to sync with the Traveler server. These clients initiate a long running HTTP or HTTPs connection (Push request) to be notified of server changes. Whenever a request returns with results indicating server changes, the client initiates a data sync request.

Connection types and ports

The following table provides a summary of the connection types used by the mobile devices and the ports they use by default. Only one data sync channel is used but the mobile devices can support either HTTP or HTTPS.

Table 1. Connection types and default port numbers
Used for Connection type Default port Notes®

Data syncing

HTTPS

443

This connection type is best for data syncing. The port uses a secure channel for data transfer between the device and the server.

Data syncing

HTTP

80

The port uses an unsecured channel for data transfer between the device and the server.

These topics describe different network topologies and give more specific information about why each might be used:

Server types and ports

The following table provides a summary of the connection types used by the IBM Traveler Server and the ports used by default.
Table 2. Server ports
Used for Connection type Default port Notes®
Inter-process communication   TCP 50125 Port used for servlet to server task communication as well as server task to server task communication (HA pool). Secure socket (SSL) is used if configured.  
Inter-process communication   TCP 50126 Port used for server task to servlet communication. Secure socket (SSL) is used if configured.
Database communication TCP 50000 (DB2®) 1433 (MS SQL) Database server port used for server task to database server jdbc communication. The port for the DB2® Database instance can vary based on the number of instances on the database server. Port 1433 for the SQL Server communication is standard.
Mail server communication RPC/TCP 1352 Port used by the IBM Traveler server to communicate with each mail server.

Network interfaces

During initialization, the IBM Traveler server automatically scans the available network interfaces and uses the first active, non-loopback option. In most cases, this automatic selection will be adequate. If the server has multiple network interfaces, however, the wrong interface may be selected during initialization. If this happens, the notes.ini setting named NTS_HOST_IP_ADDR can be used to manually select the correct interface. See Notes.ini settings for more details about configuring the interface and port settings.

For information on FCM, see the Firebase Cloud Messaging reference provided by Google. For information on the GCM (deprecated), see the GCM Connection Server reference.

APNS configuration requirements are as follows:
  • Allow inbound and outbound TCP packets over port 2195 for gateway.push.apple.com and 2196 for feedback.push.apple.com.
  • The IP address range for the push service is subject to change, so allow the entire 17.0.0.0/8 address block assigned to Apple.
  • The SSL handshake utilizes both Client Hello and Server Hello to establish security enhancement capabilities, so both Client Hello and Server Hello must be allowed.

For related notes.ini settings, see Push messaging through a proxy.