IBM RDi Rational Developer Ports
What TCPIP ports are used by IBM RD/i?
I’ve been struggling to get Rational Developer working while remote during the ‘Rona. While I’m working locked in my cellar, candles flickering, dogs growling and rats a scurrying, my laptop is connected with VPN and my guess is that VPN is blocking ports that RD/i needs for the connection.
Using SEU isn’t an option for modern RPGLE Developers, for many obvious reasons. I mean, obviously it’s a workaround, but since it adds hours to any program coding experience – we really need to use RDi for efficient programming on this wonderful IBM i system.
You may not have thought about IBM RDi Rational Developer Ports that need to be opened for RDi to function correctly. So let’s dive in it:
So what does I need to open for IBM RDi Rational Developer Ports?
If you are working remote and see this glorious error message:
The chances are you need to open some ports in your VPN or firewall configuration.
The mandatory ports for Rdi are: 8470, 8475, 8476, 446, 449
We also have some optional ports for Debug, IFS etc: 8473, 8472, 4300, 3825
Going into these ports in some more details
| Product function | Required TCP/IP ports on IBM i |
|---|---|
| Remote System Explorer functions: including filtering, editing, compiling, and running | 8470: IBM i central server 8475: IBM i remote command server 8476: IBM i signon server 446: IBM i DRDA® (record access) server 449: IBM i server mapper server |
| Integrated File System (IFS) access | 8473: IBM i file server |
| Interactive job support (via the STRRSESVR command) | 8472: IBM i data queue server |
| Local port for interactive job support (via the STRRSESVR command) | 4300: Remote System Explorer communications daemon. This is a local workstation port that the STRRSESVR command uses to monitor “call backs” from the IBM i server to your local workstation. |
| Local port for integrated i Debugger | 3825: Debugger server This is the local port the debugger uses to communicate with the IBM i. |
You need ports 8470, 8475, 8476, 446, and 449 to remain open for proper functioning of the product.
However, you only need to keep the IFS and Interactive job support ports open if you require those functions.
To change the local Remote System Explorer port that your workstation uses to connect to the IBM i server:
- From the workbench menu bar, click Window > Preferences.
- Expand Remote Systems and click Communications to select it.
- You can change the port number in the RSE Communications daemon port number field.
To change the port that the debugger server listens on, use the IBM i WRKSRVTBLE command and add or change the entry QDBGSVR2.
If this entry is not found in the table, the debugger server listens on the default port 3825
RDi is dropping my connection frequently. Following your instructions above, I see I’m using port 4301, not one of the ports you’ve listed. Could that be what’s causing this issue?
Switch it to a recommended port (these all came from various IBM documents) and let us know 😉
I believe that port 4301 is used by default by RDi v9.8, instead of 4300, though it might be in addition to 4300. Not sure.
Thanks Evan – that might be useful for rational developers out there 😉
Not me tho 😉 I jumped ship, uninstalled RDi and migrated to Visual Studio Code with the launch of 9.8! I couldn’t wear the $1400 per year cost for a simple RPG code editor… Plus VSCode is way sexier LOL