Summary

A firewall can prevent Laserfiche Quick Fields from accessing a Laserfiche repository. This occurs when a firewall is filtering the communication between the Laserfiche Server and Quick Fields. This article explains how you can configure Laserfiche Quick Fields to access a repository across a firewall.

Important: The instructions provided in this article are only meant for installations of Laserfiche Quick Fields that are separated from a Laserfiche Server by a firewall.

Symptoms

If a firewall is preventing Quick Fields from communicating with the Laserfiche Server, then you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• The desired repository is not available when creating a session or when choosing a repository for a document class.
• An existing session cannot retrieve documents from a repository.
• An existing session cannot store documents in a repository.
• An "IP Connection failed." error occurs when trying to access or store information in a Laserfiche repository.

Resolution

Before you can configure Quick Fields to work with Laserfiche across a firewall, you will need to make sure that the Laserfiche Server has been properly configured. For detailed instructions on how the Laserfiche Server should be configured to be firewall compatible, please refer to the following Laserfiche Knowledge Base article:

1000765 Configuring Laserfiche to be Firewall Compatible.

After configuring the Laserfiche Server, you will need to install the client version of the Laserfiche Firewall Compatibility Component on the computer where Laserfiche Quick Fields is installed. Once it has been installed, you will need to manually configure the server notation that Laserfiche Quick Fields will use to find the desired repository. If the Laserfiche client is installed on the same computer as Laserfiche Quick Fields, then you can simply attach the desired repository using the appropriate notation. Laserfiche Quick Fields will now be able to access that repository. For detailed instructions, please refer to the following Laserfiche Knowledge Base article:

1011021 Configuring the Laserfiche Client to be Firewall Compatible.

If the Laserfiche client is not installed on the same computer as Laserfiche Quick Fields, then you will need to modify the Windows registry. When modifying the Windows registry, the notation that you should use to specify the Laserfiche Server is an IP address, a colon, 1888, two colons, and the TCP port assigned to the Laserfiche Server. If you would like to modify the Windows registry, please refer to the following procedure.

To allow Quick Fields to access a repository across a firewall

Warning: Incorrectly editing the registry may adversely affect your system. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs.

1. Make sure that the client version of the Laserfiche Firewall Compatibility Component is installed. If you are unsure as to where the installation can be found, please refer to the To locate the client version of the Laserfiche Firewall Compatibility Component procedure below.
2. Disable the automatic reception of repository information.
   1. Load the Windows Registry Editor.
      1. From the Start menu, select Run.
      2. Type the following:

         regedit

      3. Click OK.
   2. Browse to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Laserfiche\Client\Profile\Options registry key.
   3. From the Edit menu, select New and then select String Value.
   4. Set the new string value to "Thunk."
   5. From the Edit menu, select Modify.
   6. In the Value data option, type "0."
3. Browse to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Laserfiche\Client\Profile\IPDatabase registry key.
4. Look for a string value that is named after the desired repository. If it already exists, proceed to the next step. Otherwise, create a new string value and assign it the name of the desired repository.
5. Set the value of the string to:

   IPAddress:1888::ServerPort

   IPAddress is the IP address specified in the FCC configuration file on the Laserfiche Server.
   
   ServerPort is the port that the Laserfiche Server has been configured to use with the Firewall Compatibility Component.

   Note: Two colons separate 1888 and the FCC port.

To locate the client version of the Laserfiche Firewall Compatibility Component

1. Insert the Laserfiche Client/Server installation CD into your CD/DVD drive. The Laserfiche installation menu should appear. If it does not appear, then you should double-click Autorun.exe from the root folder of the installation CD.
2. Select More Options and then choose Install Firewall Compatibility Component (FCC) 7.1.
3. Select the Install: FCC (Client) option. The installation for the client version of the Laserfiche Firewall Compatibility Component will appear. Step through the installation wizard.