Understanding the portmapper service
A portmapper is a service that runs independently of the Remedy AR System server and serves as a directory of port numbers.
Depending on whether or not the server is registered with a portmapper, users must perform the following actions while logging on to Remedy AR System:
- If a server is registered with a portmapper, users do not need to specify the port number in the client, because the portmapper can locate the port and direct clients to the appropriate location.
- If a server is not registered with a portmapper, or if a Port 111 firewall blocks the portmapper port, users must specify the port.
When you start the server, it opens a port to listen to. You can specify a port for the server or let the server obtain an available port dynamically.
You can register a server with a portmapper and assign a port number. For example, if you do this and do not expose the portmapper outside a firewall, clients within the firewall do not need to be configured to access the specified port number. They can access the portmapper, which directs them to the port. Clients outside the firewall must be configured to access the specified port number.
Portmapper detection
On Windows, the AR System installer searches for an existing portmapper. If a portmapper is installed and running and you choose to register with a portmapper, the Remedy AR System registers the server with that portmapper. If the installer does not detect a running portmapper and you chose to register with a portmapper, the installer installs the portmapper and registers the AR System server with that portmapper.
Port number assignment
If you do not register with a portmapper, you must assign a port number to any AR System server that you want clients to access directly, and to the plug-in server.
Assign port numbers greater than 1024, because:
- Port numbers within the range 1 – 1024 are available for use only by the superuser, and many of these numbers are reserved.
- Remedy AR System clients earlier than version 5.0 cannot access port numbers lower than 1024.
For more information about port numbers, go to http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers.
Connecting to AR System at a specific TCP port
When using an API client on a Linux server, you can connect to the AR System at a specific TCP port by setting the AR TCP Port variable.
The following strategies require that all servers that the client uses be on the same port.
For the C shell, use the following commands to set ARTCPPORT:
For the Bourne shell, use the following commands to set ARTCPPORT:
For an Developing an API program, you can set variables through a shell or from within the program.