Tutorial: Set the Interface and Ports for the Web Services
Overview
When installing Access Server, the web services and OpenVPN daemons listen on all interfaces by default. You can change this in the Admin Web UI or the command-line interface (CLI), which are covered here.
There are three web services in total in Access Server:
Admin Web UI: The administrative web interface on port TCP 943/443.
Client Web UI: The end-user interface for the client program on port TCP 943/443.
Cluster web API: The inter-cluster API communication on port TCP 945 on older Access Server versions.
The Client and Admin Web UIs are on the same port, with the Client Web UI at the root / URL and the Admin Web UI at the /admin URL.
By default, the OpenVPN TCP daemons are on port TCP 443, the standard HTTPS port for web services. We chose this port for the OpenVPN TCP daemons because it is likely that simpler firewalls allow this through, whereas UDP 1194 where the UDP daemons live, might be blocked. To allow an easier user experience, the OpenVPN TCP daemons can recognize web browser requests and internally forward these to where the Client and Admin Web UI services reside. We call this service forwarding. This allows accessing the web services through a URL like https://vpn.example.com/ without specifying the exact port.
If you turn off or change the service forwarding settings or alter the OpenVPN TCP daemon port, this automatic internal redirection of browser requests on port TCP 443 won’t work. If you stop the OpenVPN daemons, you won’t be able to access the web services on the default HTTPS port. In such a case, you must connect to the web services directly at their default port, TCP 943, in the web browser: https://your.vpnserver.com:943/.