What should I consider when configuring ports for Screen Pop?

Environment:

Screen Pop within Agent Console, All product versions

Resolution:

Screen Pop functionality allows workspace tabs to be opened within the agent desktop application programmatically. The functionality involves configured ports on a site/interface (EXT_CONSOLE_WS_PORT configuration) and account-level (accounts.screen_pop_port field). Note also that to use this functionality overall the EXT_CONSOLE_WS_ENABLED configuration must be enabled, and this account-level field will not be available for edit on the account object workspace until this configuration is enabled.

One consideration to be aware of is that the application will check the account-level configuration first, and if that field is null will then check the site/interface-level configuration. Further, when a port is used on a computer running the application it will hold a lock on it until the application is re-started. Separately, in the case of non-standard deployments such as those involving Windows Terminal Server, the port is obtained on a shared server used by all agents/users of the system, and that port may not be released until the server is re-started.

Thus, if the application is being run on a shared server or if multiple instances of the application are to be used on a single machine, the account-level port configuration must be used in order to avoid conflicts. If all instances of the application running on a single machine are using different ports for Screen Pop the functionality should work as expected.

For further details see the product feature documentation for the product feature here.