Please read below for those wanting to understand more about Firewalls and why they can be difficult to diagnose.

Data is exchanged between a computer and a network of computers, like the Internet, through a series of "ports" or connection places.

For LearnCube to stream video from outside a network/firewall to the inside (and vice versa), we require certain "ports" to be open.

Firewalls block or hinder data from passing through these ports (i.e. experienced in the video not rendering or being very slow or cutting out)

LearnCube uses two types of rooms: (1) peer-to-peer rooms and (2) rooms using a video server. We find peer-to-peer room the best default option, in general, but larger group classes with more than 6 students may need the video server.

In an ideal firewall setup, a firewall will keep the ports open to allow the data to be exchanged with LearnCube's video servers and the participants. Some ports are better than others.

If the ideal ports get blocked for any reason (for example a firewall is detected), the connection is routed to another server that LearnCube manages called a TURN (Traversal Using Relays around NAT). 

This server tries to traverse (get around) the firewall by relaying all data through another server. A TURN server uses fewer ports and tries to use the ports that are open. 

Group rooms are more likely to be impacted by firewall issues as they require more ports to be open. 

This is why we provide Firewall Settings to all companies that have a firewall. An IT department can view the settings through our document here and make the appropriate changes.
​
We keep this document up-to-date, so we suggest sharing directly with the company IT department, rather than PDF, because then it remains updated automatically.