FIREWALL CONFIGURATION FOR SMARTSIMS WINDOWS MULTI-PLAYER SOFTWARE
Last Updated 24 June 2013
Introduction
Read this if :
you are running the Windows Multi-Player software on a computer which is part of a university, school, or corporate network and are having trouble connecting
or
you are IT staff looking for information about configuring Multi-Player for use with your firewall.
For Course Participants:
In order to allow Multi-Player to connect to the server via the Internet, you will need to talk to your IT staff
and ask them to allow access to our servers through the firewall. A sample email you could send to your IT
staff is provided below:
Sample Email
Dear IT Support or System Administrator,
I am required to use an Internet-based business simulation as part of a course I am taking. This simulation service
is described more fully at www.smartsims.com.
I understand that it is common for an organization to have a firewall to prevent unauthorized access to its
network from the Internet.
For me to use it successfully, the Smartsims Multi-Player client software needs to be able to make outgoing TCP/IP (IPv4) connections
through our firewall to the Smartsims servers/routers hosted on the Internet.
Because it does not use the HTTP protocol, some adjustment of the firewall configuration is likely.
More information can be found at: https://www.smartsims.com/docs/firewall
If you have any concerns regarding this matter you can send them an email on my behalf, at help@smartsims.com.
Thank you for your help. More information about the software follows:
Technical Info for IT Staff:
Thanks for your help with setting up our Multi-Player software so that your colleagues can use it on your network.
We are keen to help you set up the Multi-Player so that it communicates through your organization’s firewall
without compromising security.
The Windows Multi-Player client software needs to be able to use WinSock to make outgoing TCP/IP (IPv4) connections on ports 3150, 9150, and 80 to the Smartsims server/routers.
Once established, all data is transferred over that connection.
The client software does not ‘listen’ for incoming connections.
Please edit the out-bound TCP/IP filtering rules in your firewall to enable TCP connections from the user’s IP address to the following IP addresses and ports:
Primary Routers
- 216.155.141.51 port 3150 (r1.smartsimsrouters.com)
- 216.155.141.51 port 9150 (r4.smartsimsrouters.com)
- 216.155.141.52 port 3150 (r2.smartsimsrouters.com)
- 216.155.141.52 port 80 (r5.smartsimsrouters.com)
Backup Routers (used if Primary routers are unavailable)
- 108.170.17.114 port 3150
- 108.170.17.114 port 9150
- 108.170.17.115 port 3150
- 108.170.17.115 port 80
Important: Please ensure that the traffic is not throttled or de-prioritized
by your firewall. Our client software is bandwidth efficent (a typical 30 minute
session will use 500Kb – 1MB of data), but traffic management policies often cause timeouts and disconnections.
Our simulations have been used by over 250,000 students around the world over the past 10-15 years, and we are very happy to answer any questions you may have.
Regards,
Smartsims Support
Email: help@smartsims.com