Secure Networks

Network Security Overview

As long as a device has access to the Internet, a Photon client on should be able to connect to Photon servers, as the client initiates any connection and replies are expected.

For security reasons, there are a few variations where the network:

• blocks UDP (and or other protocols).
• allows only some port ranges (per protocol).
• blocks some host name(s).

Below are some options to help get clients connected in those cases.

WebSockets

Most of the networks with restricted internet access still allow a secure connection via Secure WebSockets, a well known standard internet protocol.

Configure your client to use the protocol WebSocketSecure and set the port to 443 for it.

Apps that belong to an Industries Circle account should also set the Name Server address to: ns.photonindustries.io. This is the AppSettings.Server value. With that set, allow-lists in firewalls only need to include *.photonindustries.io.

Proxy Support

Photon clients support using proxies for WebSocket connections. In WebGL, proxy support is defined by the browser and system. All other platforms need some setup work, described below.

• Make sure your project contains the folder PhotonLibs\WebSocket\ containing websocket-sharp.dll among other files.
• Use the PhotonWebSocket.asmdef to include the WebSocket assembly on your target platforms.
• Add the define WEBSOCKET to your project (this is usually set per platform).

The Realtime API level now uses the SocketWebTcp class for WS/WSS connections, instead of the default PhotonClientWebSocket. To verify this, the SupportLogger (if available and enabled) will log a line including "Socket: SocketWebTcp" once connected.

Set the AppSettings.Server to: ns.photonindustries.io. Make sure the port is 80 for ws or 443 for wss. Some client SDKs use these as default. Others need it configured as AppSettings.Port.

The AppSettings.ProxyServer field can be empty or contain one of the following options:

• <proxyhostname>:<proxyport> // just a proxy address
• <user>:<pass>@<proxyhostname>:<proxyport> // authentication and proxy address

Parts in < and > are variable info. Don't include the < and > signs in the proxy config.

To verify your proxy is used:

• increase the log level of the Photon networking layer to Info (e.g. via AppSettings.NetworkLogging).
• run Wireshark and monitor the specific port.