Firewall Information

What are firewalls?
Firewalls are filtering devices that control what kind of information can flow between the Internet and the internal network of a company, institution, or even your home. They pass desired information and stop undesired information or attacks by hackers and worms. Often, firewall administrators only allow a very restricted set of information to pass through and require users to request that additional information content be allowed through the firewall. Firewalls can be special hardware devices, built into network router devices, or can be software loaded directly on your PC.

Will the netYAK Service work with firewalls?
Yes, it will. Standard Web protocols are used between you and the web sites you visit to initiate a netYAK call. Also, if your PC is behind a firewall then that firewall must enable TCP and UDP traffic on ports 30,000 and 30,001. This is generally never a problem if the PC has a direct ISP connection such as a dial-up connection. Note that the netYAK YAKbites feature is not affected by firewall settings.

What symptoms might I see when using netYAK behind a firewall?
If the firewall is passing netYAK traffic you won't see any symptoms. However, you may encounter problems when trying to place a netYAK call. Generally, you will encounter one of two situations:

1) The netYAK Voice Client will indicate that the call has connected but neither you or the party you called will hear any audio. In this case the UDP ports 30,000 and 30,001 are not open for traffic. Submit a request to your network / firewall administrator (or network security officer) that these UDP ports be opened for bi-directional traffic.

2) The netYAK Voice Client indicates that it is placing the call...forever! In this case, the TCP ports 30,000 and 30,001 are not open for traffic. Potentially, neither are UDP ports 30,000 and 30,001. Submit a request to your network / firewall administrator (or network security officer) that these TCP and UDP ports be opened for bi-directional traffic.

What do I do if I can't place a call or hear audio with the netYAK Voice Client?
Submit a request to your network/firewall administrator (or network security officer) that TCP ports 30,000 & 30,001, and UDP ports 30,000 & 30,001 be opened for bi-directional traffic.

Firewall Software

Firewall Books

Firewall Hardware