System requirements
To get complete compatibility information for BMC Virtual Chat 9.1, use the BMC Solution and Product Availability and Compatibility Utility on the Product Availability and Compatibility page. Note that Apache Tomcat version 7.0.50 and higher can be used with Java version 8; if you use an earlier version of Apache Tomcat, you must use Java version 7.
The BMC Virtual Chat application is a BMC Remedy application, packaged as a definition (DEF) file and imported to the BMC Remedy AR System server by using the BMC Remedy Developer Studio tool. Any supported BMC Remedy AR System server can be used to host BMC Virtual Chat. For information about the system requirements for BMC Remedy AR System, see System requirements in the BMC Remedy ITSM 9.1 Deployment documentation.
BMC Virtual Chat also has the following requirements:
Supported browsers
BMC Virtual Chat 9.1 supports using the Self Service Portal in the following browsers:
Desktop browsers:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 9, 10, and 11
- Google Chrome (latest version)
- Mozilla Firefox (latest version)
- Apple Safari (latest version)
Mobile browsers:
- Apple Safari (iOS)
- Google Chrome (Android)
Installation disk space
The BMC Virtual Chat installation requires a minimum of 1 GB of free temporary disk space. To verify your available space on Microsoft Windows, use Windows Explorer to check the hard disk space.
Open ports
- Port 6225—Port 6225 must be open on BMC AR System and Mid Tier servers in order for BMC Virtual Chat to communicate with the Chat Notification Servlet (CNS). The CNS, which runs on Apache Tomcat, listens for a socket connection on port 6225. The BMC Remedy AR System server acts like a client via one of the BMC Virtual Chat Java plug-ins and initiates one (or more) connections to the CNS on that port. Updates to chats are sent to the CNS via this socket connection.
Port 6226—Port 6226 must be open only on Mid Tier servers and on BMC Remedy AR server. The load balancer should be able to manage the traffic through this port because it is used for managing the Program D requests (Virtual Agent responses and RKM Search)
Important
The following BMC Virtual Chat plugins hosted in BMC AR System server listen to ports 6225 and 6226:
- ESChatNotificationServerPlugin uses port 6225.
- SupportBotPlugin uses port 6226.
- Port on which Remedy mid-tier is accessed (default port 8080)— The port on which the mid-tier's Tomcat server listens must be accessible from the BMC Remedy AR System server
For security purposes and browser JavaScript cross-domain limitations, self-service users talk only to the ESChat servlet. When polling for chat updates, users poll the ESChat servlet, which in turn polls the CNS.
Note
Compatibility matrices, which identify the hardware and software requirements for installing BMC applications, are available on the BMC Customer Support website at http://www.bmc.com/support.
Unicode for double-byte languages
To support chats with double-byte languages, such as Korean, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese, you must install BMC Remedy AR System with Unicode support. For more information about Unicode support, see Unicode support and Unicode compatibility considerations in the BMC Remedy ITSM deployment online documentation.
Load-balanced environment requirements
When you use a load-balanced environment, consider the following requirements:
- To ensure that the file transfer feature of BMC Virtual Chat works in a load-balanced environment, all Apache Tomcat instances on BMC Remedy Mid-Tier servers must be installed in the same location.
- In a load-balanced configuration, each ESChat servlet talks to the CNS on its local system. Each CNS must also create a connection to each of the other CNS servlets on port 6225 to synchronize typing notifications.
- Ensure that the port on which the mid-tier's Tomcat server listens (default port is 8080) is accessible from the BMC Remedy AR server.
Example: D:\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat7.0
Comments
Hello,
The port on which the Mid-Tier Tomcat server (or the Mid-Tier load-balancer, if such exists) listens should also be accessible from the AR Server machine(s). In most cases it will be accessible by default but it is possible that it will be not. Therefore, I think it will be good if you can add some information about that on this page, so that people will not have to struggle and find this out the hard way.
Best Regards,
Martin Penev
Hello Martin Penev,
Thanks for your comment. I have updated the information under the "Load balanced environment requirements" section.
-Aaditi
Hello,
I am not sure what you have added but I think it is still not clear that the port on which the mid-tier's Tomcat server listens should be accessible from the AR Server. I do not mean ports 6225 and 6226, I mean the port on which the mid-tier is accessed (8080 by default). And this thing is not only for load balanced environments. It is also valid for environments that have only one mid-tier.
Best Regards,
Martin Penev
Hello Martin Penev,
I have updated the Open ports and Load-balanced environment requirements section. Please check bullet point #3.
Thanks,
Aaditi
Hello Aaditi,
Thanks a lot for you quick reaction.
Best Regards,
Martin Penev
Hello,
The following statement is a bit misleading: "Port 6225 must be open in both directions between the BMC AR System and Mid Tier servers in order for BMC Virtual Chat to communicate with the Chat Notification Servlet (CNS).". There is a similar one for port 6226 as well.
Do we really need to open ports 6225 and 6226 from the mid-tier to the AR Server(s)? Is there any service that listens on these ports on the AR Servers? If not, then this ports should be opened only from the AR Server to the mid-tier (and between the different mid-tiers in a load-balanced environment).
Could you please check exactly what ports need to be opened and on which machines and update the information in this page so that it is more clear?
Best Regards,
Martin Penev
Hello, Martin Penev,
Thanks for pointing this out. Let me check with the R&D team and get back to you on this query.
Aaditi
Hello Aaditi,
Did you manage to check with the R&D team?
Thank you!
Best Regards, Ilka Stoeva
Hello Ilka Stoeva,
Thanks for your patience. Yes, we are working on this query and I will reply here as soon as we have the details.
Aaditi
Hello Martin Penev and Ilka Stoeva,
Thanks again for your patience! The answer to your queries is as follows:
A) If you are in on an on-premises environment
B) If you are in SaaS environment (Helix Subscriber)
It is important to note that ports 6225 and 6226 are listened by the following BMC Virtual Chat plugins:
Since this doc space supports on-premises environments, I have updated this document with relevant details. Please let us know if you need any other clarification.
Aaditi
Hello,
I checked once again and on our AR Server machines no applications/services listen on ports 6225 and 6226. We have the plugins that you mentioned but they do not listen for incoming connections on these ports.
Best Regards,
Martin
Hello Martin Penev,
It is possible that plugins do not listen for incoming connections on these ports, but they definitely send messages via those ports. The ESChat web app listens to those ports.
Aaditi
Hello,
But if this is the case, then these ports do not need to be opened on the AR Server machines. They need to be opened only on the Mid-Tier machines.
Best Regards,
Martin
Hello Martin Penev ,
To effectively respond to this query, please enter a ticket with BMC Customer Support by clicking here.
Thanks,
Aaditi
Hi,
Is the port 6225 & 6226 comes under which protocol is it http or tcp protocol? could anyone share some light on this?
Thanks, Jijil
Hello, Jijil Ghosh
Let me confirm the protocol and get back to you.
Thanks,
Aaditi
Hi, I got confirmation from BMC support team that this is a TCP port.
Regards, Jijil
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