Connectivity requirements
This article provides an overview of domains and common ports that are used by XenServer components and must be considered as part of the networking architecture, especially if communication traffic traverses network components such as firewalls or proxy servers where ports must be opened or domains added to an allow list to ensure communication flow.
External domains accessed by XenServer product components
Depending on your deployment and requirements, configure your firewall to enable these XenServer components to access the listed domains.
XenServer hosts
Your XenServer hosts access the following domains:
| Domain | Port | Direction | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
repo.ops.xenserver.com |
443 | Outbound | The XenServer pool coordinator downloads available updates for XenServer 8 from this location. For more information, see Updates. |
repo-src.ops.xenserver.com |
443 | Outbound | The XenServer pool coordinator downloads the source files for XenServer 8 updates from this location. For more information, see Updates. |
telemetry.ops.xenserver.com |
443 | Outbound | The XenServer pool coordinator gathers telemetry data and uploads it regularly to this location. For more information, see Telemetry. |
When configuring your XenServer pools to receive updates, you can configure a proxy server for the pool coordinator to use to download the updates. For more information, see Configure updates for your pool.
XenCenter
The XenCenter management console accesses the following domains:
| Domain | Port | Direction | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
updates.ops.xenserver.com |
443 | Outbound | XenCenter polls information on this site to see whether updates are available for XenCenter and for XenServer 8 hosts. For more information, see Update your XenServer hosts |
citrix.com and subdomains |
443 | Outbound | If you use XenCenter to administer Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 Cumulative Update 1 hosts and pool, XenCenter accesses subdomains on the citrix.com domain to be notified about and to download hotfixes. For more information, see Update your Citrix Hypervisor hosts
|
You can configure a proxy server that XenCenter goes through to check for and download updates. For more information, see Proxy server.
Windows VMs
If you have set up your Windows VMs to receive updates to the XenServer VM Tools management agent, your Windows VM accesses the following domains:
| Domain | Port | Direction | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
pvupdates.vmd.citrix.com |
443 | Outbound | The XenServer VM Tools for Windows poll information on this site to see whether updates are available for the management agent. |
downloadns.citrix.com.edgesuite.net |
443 | Outbound | The XenServer VM Tools for Windows download the installer files for the management agent from this location. |
If you don’t want your Windows VM to access these domains, you can redirect management agent updates to an internal web server. For more information, see Redirect the Management Agent updates.
Communication ports used by XenServer product components
The ports listed in the following table are the common ports that are used by XenServer components. Not all ports need to be open, depending on your deployment and requirements.
| Source | Destination | Type | Port | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XenServer hosts | XenServer hosts | TCP | 80, 443 | Intra-host communication between members of a resource pool using the management API |
| Citrix License Server | TCP | 27000 | Handles initial connection for license requests | |
| TCP | 7279 | Check-in/check-out of licenses | ||
| NTP Service | TCP, UDP | 123 | Time Synchronization | |
| DNS Service | TCP, UDP | 53 | DNS Lookups | |
| Domain Controller | TCP, UDP | 389 | LDAP (for Active Directory user authentication) | |
| TCP | 636 | LDAP over SSL (LDAPS) | ||
| FileServer (with SMB storage) | TCP, UDP | 139 | ISOStore:NetBIOSSessionService | |
| TCP, UDP | 445 | ISOStore:Microsoft-DS | ||
| SAN Controller | TCP | 3260 | iSCSI Storage | |
| NAS Head/File Server | TCP | 2049 | NFSv4 Storage | |
| TCP, UDP | 2049 | NFSv3 Storage. TCP is the default | ||
| TCP, UDP | 111 | NFSv3 Storage - connection to rpcbind | ||
| TCP, UDP | Dynamic | NFSv3 Storage - a dynamic set of ports chosen by the filer | ||
| Syslog | UDP | 514 | Sends data to a central location for collation | |
| Clustering | TCP | 8892, 8896, 21064 | Communication between all pool members in a clustered pool | |
| UDP | 5404, 5405 | |||
| XenCenter | XenServer hosts | TCP | 22 | SSH |
| TCP | 443 | Management using the management API | ||
| Virtual Machine | TCP | 5900 | VNC for Linux VMs | |
| TCP | 3389 | RDP for Windows VMs | ||
| Workload Balancing virtual appliance | XenServer hosts | TCP | 8012 | By default, the Workload Balancing server uses 8012. However, if you specify a different port during Workload Balancing set up, ensure that communication is allowed on that port. |
| Other clients | XenServer hosts | TCP | 80, 443 | Any client that uses the management API to communicate with XenServer hosts |
XenServer interoperates with various Citrix products. For more information about the ports these products use, see Communication ports used by Citrix.
Note:
To improve security, you can close TCP port 80 on the management interface of XenServer hosts. For more information about how to close port 80, see Restrict use of port 80.
If FQDN is used instead of IP as a resource, then make sure it is resolvable.
Active Directory integration
If you use Active Directory in your environment, ensure that the following firewall ports are open for outbound traffic for XenServer to access the domain controllers.
| Port | Protocol | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 53 | UDP/TCP | DNS |
| 88 | UDP/TCP | Kerberos 5 |
| 123 | UDP | NTP |
| 137 | UDP | NetBIOS Name Service |
| 139 | TCP | NetBIOS Session (SMB) |
| 389 | UDP/TCP | LDAP |
| 445 | TCP | SMB over TCP |
| 464 | UDP/TCP | Machine password changes |
| 636 | UDP/TCP | LDAP over SSL |
| 3268 | TCP | Global Catalog Search |
For more information, see Active Directory integration
Citrix Provisioning Services
If you use Citrix Provisioning Services in your environment, ensure that the following firewall ports can be accessed:
| Port | Protocol | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 6901, 6902, 6905 | UDP | Provisioning server outbound communication (packets destined for the target device) |
| 6910 | UDP | Target device logon with Citrix Provisioning Services |
| 6901 | UDP | Configurable target device port. The default port is 6901. |
| 6910–6930 | UDP | Configurable server port range. The default range is 6910–6930. |
For more information, see Citrix Provisioning Services and Communication ports used by Citrix.