Troubleshoot Using the S4Probe for Issues with the Universal Transaction Gateway

Description: Learn the steps for verifying the Universal Transaction Gateway (UTG) connectivity to the Data Center with the S4 Probe application. 

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Note: that these steps are not appropriate for all UTG troubleshooting cases -- if the Interface or UTG is prompting an error, please search for the specific error message. 

Jump to the section below that matches what you need to do:

Scenario	Go to this Section
Verify a connection on Citadel	Verify Connection on Citadel
Check the machine the UTG resides for internet access	Confirm the UTG Computer has Internet Access
Begin the Shift4 Probe	Run the Probe as a Test
Definition and explanation of the results	Results of Scan
Running the Probe for a Certify or test account	Run Probe under Certify/Test

Verify Connection on Citadel

The simplest test is to stop and restart the UTG to see if we see a successful connection on the Citadel Slots page. While not definitive (as we can have connectivity, but it can be severely restricted), if we see a connection to the Data Center, it's very possible that this is not related to the UTG's ability to connect to the Data Center.

If the UTG is currently in an Offline state, you may wish first to review the article UTG Stuck in Offline for details on Offline Mode functionality and situations that may prevent it from coming out of that state. If the UTG is not in an Offline state, proceed with the remainder of the article.

Confirm the UTG Computer has Internet Access

The UTG uses the internet to communicate with the data center. Check that the machine the UTG resides on has internet access by opening a web browser by going to Start > Run, starting an internet browser such as Google Chrome to access the web. Try accessing a page not normally visited.

Note: This will prevent the web browser from potentially bringing up a 'saved' (or cached) copy of a webpage recently visited.

Important: If the web page does not load, the merchant may need to contact their IT department or their Internet Service Provider (ISP) to get internet access to the machine or verify connectivity. If the web page loads, then the machine does have internet access.

Run the Probe as a Test

Once internet connectivity has been established, we can run the UTG Probe Utility to validate whether the machine can connect to our Data Center using its current network configuration. Before running the UTG Probe Utility, you need to make sure the "Shift4 UTG2" service is stopped and UTG applications are shut down on the computer.

1. You can locate the Probe Utility on an existing UTG installation via Start > Programs > Shift4 Corporation > Utilities > S4Probe or by typing S4Probe in the Window's search field. Otherwise, you can download the Probe Utility if necessary.
   
2. Under Available Items, select Connect DOLLARS ON THE NET via the Internet using Normal Route. The remaining fields will populate once this is selected. Press Next to continue.
   
3. Once the program loads, press Test to begin (it may take several minutes to complete).
    
4. Please review the Installing UTG > Running the Probe Utility to Test your Internet Connection section of the Quick Installation Guide for UTG. This will assist with steps to validate connectivity to the Shift4 Data Center.

Results of Scan

Once the Probe completes its scan, it will provide one of three results on the results page:

• Success indicates that it detected no issues in the communication between the UTG machine and our Data Center. This will generally display when all Routes return a Score of less than 10.
• Some Routes Failed indicates that a few of the routes could not connect, but some connected successfully. While the UTG can process in this state, it is recommended that your IT address the connectivity issues for the affected routes to improve overall stability.
• Failure indicates that the Probe was unable to connect to the Data Center on any route successfully. Your IT will need to determine where the restriction lies; generally, this will be a Firewall level issue relating to the UTG's utilized ports (26880 and 26881). For more information, review the Shift4 IP Addresses and DNS Names reference.

Each Route's connectivity is scored on a scale of 0-10 (0 being the best connection, indicating no retries were necessary, and 10 being a complete failure, indicating we could not connect successfully after 10 retries.) Note that the Probe is run independently of the UTG and only tests for communication to our Data Center from the machine in question; thus, the software firewall and antivirus configuration for the UTG application itself will not impact this result.

Probe Failure

If the results of the Probe return a “Failure” message, then further system / network-related troubleshooting needs to be done.

1. The merchant needs to verify the Windows Firewall and any other firewalls or 3rd party software are configured to allow communication to ns.virtualleasedline.net over ports 26880 and 26881. Also, provide them the URL for the Shift4 IP Addresses and DNS Names document. 
   
2. The probe must return a “Success” or “Some Routes Failed” result to process transactions. 

DNS Resolution

The Shift4 IP Addresses and DNS Names document also notes that the UTG must be able to resolve Domain Name System (DNS) issues. This is how the UTG determines the IP addresses for each route. If the UTG's ability to resolve DNS is blocked or limited, it can result in the UTG having limited routes available to it. 

1. To test DNS resolution from the UTG machine, you can perform a DNS lookup on the Shift4 URL from the command prompt.
   
2. At the command prompt, have the caller enter "nslookup" without quotation marks. The list of IP addresses returned will be the available servers the UTG will connect to, and there should be twenty in total. If fewer servers are listed, or if none are returned, the merchant will need to have their IT review the Shift4 IP Addresses and DNS Names document to ensure the necessary allowances are made.
   
3. If the merchant is running the Shift4 4Probe and the result is a Failure with no listed Routes, try flushing DNS. You may also see the address in the Probe window listed as "1.0.0.1" when the issue is related to DNS. 
4. If the customer is failing a probe test and they believe that the necessary ports are open, it is possible that InfoSec has blocked their public IP address. Have them obtain their public IP address from the outside of their firewall or router (typically the first public IP address to appear in a tracert). 
5. Test by having the customer try to access dollarsonthenet.net in a web browser. If this fails as well, escalate the call. Refer to Determine if an IP Address is Being Blocked for additional information.

Run Probe under Certify/Test

If running the Probe for a Certify or test account, it will need to point to the Certify servers to test properly. Under the box for the server, the URL should be changed to ns.shift4test.com. The rest of the fields will remain the same.

Probe Success

1. When complete, if you have a successful test, you will see a results page similar to the one shown.
   
2. Once the Probe returns a “Success” or “Some Routes Failed” result, the UTG should be able to talk to the Shift4 data center. 
   
3. Stop the current instance of the UTG (see Start or Stop Stand-Alone Mode or Start or Stop a Service) and restart the UTG in Stand-Alone. 
4. Check the Citadel slot page for this account (http://citadel/slot=[serialnumber]) and see if it updates. Also, have the merchant check the Express Manager of the Stand Alone for a “KeyPage Success” message next to TCPClient to confirm a successful connection to the data center.
5.  If still not getting a “KeyPage Success” message after getting “Success” on Probe, and all troubleshooting steps have been exhausted, please escalate the call for advisement based on your department escalation procedure.