Managing ports for Campaign Enterprise
If you're using some of the advanced features
of Campaign Enterprise, or if you're accessing
the program remotely, you'll find it necessary
to configure one or more ports. Effective port
management is a necessity for such email operations
as sending to an SMTP server, managing failed
email notifications, and recording unsubscribe
requests using POP3 or IMAP4 processes. Many anti-virus,
anti-spyware, and firewall programs often restrict,
hinder, or otherwise alter port access, and it
will need to be configured to allow Campaign Enterprise
to function properly.
Ports defined
A port is a control that directs Transmission
Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
communication requests to a particular application
running on a computer. Picture a street, with
several driveways branching off of it. The public
IP address is the street name. Each driveway is
protected by a gate, which represents the port.
Deliveries to the street require additional information,
or port number, to gain access to the correct
driveway or application. The standard port for
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (http) requests is
port 80, directing requests to the web server.
Other common ports are: port 25 for SMTP connections,
port 110 for POP3, port 143 for IMAP, and port
443 for secure http or secure socket layer (SSL)
connections. Outbound connections, like those
made to an SMTP server, are not blocked in most
cases. Inbound ports are managed on the recipient's
network in the same manner that you manage inbound
ports in your network.
An application tied to a particular port is
often referred to as "listening" for requests
that come in through that port, and ignoring other
traffic on other ports. Campaign Enterprise by
default "listens" on port 82 for administrative
purposes, like creating and editing email campaigns,
and port 81 for managing click through management
and opened email tracking. Like other applications
that use default ports, Campaign Enterprise can
"listen" on any other port specified, as long
as it is not in use by some other application.
There are over 65,000 ports available, which gives
you a lot of options.
When a web server is installed on the same computer
as Campaign Enterprise, it may engage in socket
pooling, meaning it "listens" to all the unassigned
ports. Often, ports 81 and 82 are included in
socket pooling, which prevents all unassigned
ports from being used by their intended application.
To free up those ports, socket pooling may need
to be disabled.
For assistance with this, you should retain
the services of your network administrator. Here's
a quick primer to disabling socket pooling:
- Launch Command
Prompt.
- Switch to InetPub\AdminScripts.
- Type the following
command:
cscript adsutil.vbs
set w3svc/disablesocketpooling true
The following response is listed:
disablesocketpooling
: (BOOLEAN) True
- 4. Restart IIS Admin and WWW Service.
To determine which ports are currently in use
on a particular computer, launch a command prompt
and type netstat -aon.
This will display the process ID or PID. In the
command prompt type tasklist/svc
and match the PID with the program running.
Other applications often switch from the standard
ports to enhance security. Some Internet and email
service providers change their SMTP port to something
other than port 25. This is done to ensure legitimate
access to those servers. Only those who know the
specified port are able to connect to and send
emails through that particular server. Find out
if the port Campaign Enterprise uses to send emails
is something other than the default. If it is
a non-standard port being used by a remote application,
like an SMTP server, simply append the port to
the name or IP address of the server in the sending
configuration area. For example:
smtp.domain.com: 2025
This format is used to configure other protocols
using non-standard ports as well, like POP3 and
IMAP4.
A firewall or router may control access to the
public IP or domain name. In order to connect
to a web server, there is a public IP address
involved. Using our street analogy, the firewall
acts as the gate in a gated community. When a
click through request attempts to gain access
to the street, the gatekeeper may block access.
The gatekeeper must check the list for approved
visitors, or listed ports. A firewall rule must
be set up to indicate that requests coming in
on port 82 can enter the street and drive up to
the Campaign Enterprise server to process the
request. If there is no rule, the request is turned
away; typically giving an "access denied" page
error on the browser. A typical firewall rule
will convey the following:
TCP/IP requests coming
to Public IP/Domain on port 82, redirect to internal
IP of Campaign Enterprise computer.
The firewall application will have an area where
the rules are configured and stored.
Since Campaign Enterprise comes with a built
in web server, which serves up its own interface
pages using http, it is possible to configure
the Campaign Enterprise server on port 80. If
there is already a web server on the network managing
the company's website, Campaign Enterprise will
require its own public IP address, the same as
any other web server application. Then requests
coming in on Campaign Enterprise's IP are routed
to the Campaign Enterprise server without having
to configure a rule on the firewall or router.
Since it has its own domain, there is no overlap
with any other web server in the network. Should
the web server and Campaign Enterprise reside
on the same computer, that computer would need
two network cards with each one assigned a different
public IP address.
Ports are no more mysterious than any other
part of a computer, and once you understand their
function, it is possible to work with them to
optimize Campaign Enterprise's advanced features.
-- Arial Software
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