Universal Transaction Gateway FAQs

What data should be backed up from the Universal Transaction Gateway (UTG) and/or Lighthouse Transaction Manager (LTM) when closing a Shift4 account?

Shift4 does not store sensitive data on the computers that have the Shift4 Universal Transaction Gateway (UTG) installed on them. Therefore, there is nothing to back up from the UTG application. Shift4 does ask that you remove the UTG software by uninstalling it or by reformatting the hard drive on applicable machines.

As far as your transaction data, Shift4 stores the transaction information on the Lighthouse Transaction Manager (LTM) databases. You should retrieve any reports or data you need to keep from LTM prior to terminating your account. 

NOTE: Once your account has been terminated, you will no longer have access to your transaction data unless you pay a fee to have Shift4 maintain your archive database.

Can the Universal Transaction Gateway (UTG) be installed on a virtual machine?

For customers authorized to do their own Universal Transaction Gateway (UTG) installs, they can install on a virtual machine but should ensure that the virtual machine meets the minimum system requirements as outlined in Chapter 3 of the UTG Quick Installation Guide.

For customers who need Shift4 to perform the installation, the UTG can be installed on any computer – virtual or physical, as long as it can pass the Pre-Installation Assessment (PIA) requirements.

NOTE: Shift4 cannot support the virtualization itself.

What does the error message "!UNMANAGED! Running" indicate in the TuneUp status window?

This error message "!UNMANAGED! Running" means the UTG's Stand Alone was closed abruptly or improperly, (e.g. clicking the "X" to end the process from the task manager or hard rebooting the computer). It displays this label on the top right corner of the Stand Alone.

NOTE: The UTG will still function and process normally.

Internal:

What Point of Sale and property management systems are hard-coded to communicate over the default Universal Transaction Gateway (UTG) thread ports?

Most Point of Sales (POS) and Property Management Systems (PMS) will make the port that they communicate to the Universal Transaction Gateway (UTG) over an editable field. This allows the merchant to choose a port that is open on their network and does not conflict with another POS or PMS in use if applicable. 

However, there are some POS and PMSes that did not make their port numbers editable and are instead hardcoded for particular ports. 

NOTE: The below list is NOT all-inclusive, but the ones we are already aware of.

The following interfaces are hardcoded for port 17476:
Retail Pro 8
Retail Pro 9
Abacus
EZ Links

Autoclerk INTERFACE:
Autoclerk uses HTTP to talk to the UTG. The Autoclerk software has port 17477 programmed into it to use for this connection. As such, this is the port the Interface thread within the UTG should be configured to when the customer is using Autoclerk.

HSI INTERFACE:
HSI has two versions. Their older version used a File API connection type and is listed in Citadel logs as HSIPOS:
Hilton Garden Inn Danbury FB (35964) SQL_B (15) 20081210 0000008521 VS HSIPOS 1.34 sec NOVAVLLA 0000000528 10 Mon 2009-07-27 06:57:29 ENGINE4FM

The new version uses a TCP/IP connection type to the UTG and is listed in Citadel as HSIPOSV2:
Hilton Garden Inn Restaurant (274829) SQL_B (15) 20081210 0000014563 VS HSIPOSV2 1.30 sec VISAVLLA 0000000398 10 Mon 2009-07-27 08:25:41 ENGINE1FM

The port that HSI has coded into the software to talk to the UTG over is 14476. As such, this is the port the Interface thread within the UTG should be configured to when the customer is using HSIv2.

Why do I need a slot reactivation if I am reinstalling the Universal Transaction Gateway (UTG) on the same machine with the same IP address?

Every installation of the Universal Transaction Gateway (UTG) is given a Global Unique Identifier (GUID) to be associated with it. The GUID is one of the items checked as a point of authentication each time a UTG connects its given slot to Shift4’s data center. If a slot reactivation is not done, a reinstall of the UTG on the same hardware with the same IP address will not connect to the data center properly since the GUID has changed. To process the slot reactivation, see the Slot Reactivation Request Handling procedure. 

How many PIN Pad devices can I connect to a single Universal Transaction Gateway (UTG) without experiencing performance issues? 

The Universal Transaction Gateway (UTG) supports up to COM32 so the UTG will only be able to support up to 32 devices connected directly via serial.

In regards to the number of IP connections, both TCP/IP using Stub and Ethernet for Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE), the UTG is limited to the number of threads configured in the Max Threads limit on the Advanced tab. The default limit is 90 and can be increased to a maximum of 300. A customer will need a unique code password in order to change the Max Threads from the default.

Please note that the Max Threads number is referring to the total number of threads configured in the UTG, not just the PIN pad devices threads. Also note that while the maximum is 300, the ability to support this many threads will still depend on the merchant's infrastructure.

How does the Universal Transaction Gateway (UTG) Auto Update Feature function?

All Universal Transaction Gateways (UTG) on a merchant's serial can be queued for a one-time automatic update upon a customer's request. Please review the warning below:

Warnings

• If the merchant's UTG is on a build between 2100 to 2176 or 2253 to 2267, it cannot be automatically updated as auto updating from these versions can break the merchant's ability to process. See Manually Update the Universal Transaction Gateway for instructions on manually updating the UTG for any of these builds.
• The auto update will update every UTG associated with the serial number so it is important to confirm that all UTGs utilized by the serial number are not on any of the above builds.
  
  NOTE: Do not use the centralized serial number on the request. You must use each individual serial number listed under the centralized account.
  
  
• Devices (PIN pads)
  • UTG Stub - As of UTG build 2275, the merchant will need to utilize UTG Stub build 921. If the serial has UTG build 2274 or lower and utilizes UTG Stub for their devices, then they will need to manually update the UTG and UTG Stub (Manually Update the Universal Transaction Gateway).
  • Ingenico Telium Devices with RBA - As of UTG build 2280, Telium devices with RBA need to be using RBA v16. 

Once the UTG has been queued for an automatic update, the UTG will wait for idle time to download the patch file and then run the downloaded patch. Each time the UTG runs a transaction, it updates a value within itself named 'LastEntry' with the timestamp of that transaction. If an auto-update has been queued, and it has been five minutes since the 'LastEntry' was updated, the UTG will process the automatic update. This will momentarily shut down the UTG, update the file and restart the UTG using the version downloaded.

Things to Know

• The Auto Update waits for idle time to reduce the risk it will interrupt processing.
• The Auto Update will only update the currently used UTG file. For example: If the UTG2.EXE (UTG Stand Alone) is the one running at the time the auto-update is performed, then the UTG2.EXE file will be the one updated. The UTG2SVC.EXE (UTG Service) will stay at the current version.
• The update will be to the General Build release build at the time of being put into the queue to be updated.
• The update only occurs once and will need to be queued again if there have been build updates and the customer wants to have the auto-update performed again.

NOTE: Should the Auto Update fail, refer to Resolve Attempt to Auto Update UTG and Not Updating.

I need to collect trace, but the Trace folder the customer found is empty, how do I go about gathering the files?

The most common reason that the Trace Folder will contain no files is if the setting is disabled in the UTG. Before proceeding, follow Turn on Verbose Trace to permanently enable the Trace Configuration in the UTG.

While viewing the Trace Configuration, be sure to obtain the exact directory that the UTG is writing the files to:

This directory can be changed by the customer, so ensure that they are going to the correct location.

What does "Invalid Serial/Slot Activation Code" mean when trying to save the UTG TuneUp after configuring it?

After the UTG is configured for the first time, or reconfigured with a different serial number and slot combination, the customer will be prompted for a Serial Slot Activation Code. These codes are provided by Installation Services on a customer configuration report. If the customer is getting this error after entering in a code provided on a customer configuration report, have the customer check the date of the report to make sure it is not too old.

The Serial Slot Activation Code usually has its letters all capitalized and is case sensitive. It is also broken down into groups of characters separated by dashes and the dashes must be included when entering the code.

Typically after getting this error, the information in the UTG Express tab (see the UTG Quick Reference Guide for more information) is cleared out, i.e. Serial Number, API Serial Number and Slot are all set to 0 or blank. The customer must remember to go back and fill this information in. When prompted for the activation code again, they should confirm that the Serial Number and Slot Number displayed match the corresponding information on their customer configuration report.

If the serial number and slot number on the activation code window are correct and the customer is entering the code exactly as shown on the customer configuration report, or copied and pasted it from the configuration report, and they still get an "invalid serial/slot activation code" error, the Support Technician should escalate to a Technical Adviser to obtain a new Serial Slot Activation Code or a new configuration report from Account Setup.

When and where do we enter the API Password to complete configuration and installation of our Point-Of-Sale / Property Management System (POS/PMS) setup?

The Application Programming Interface (API) password is used to authenticate transactions to ensure they are routed to the appropriate merchant at Shift4's data centers. The password is case-sensitive and must always match the password on the merchant’s Citadel account (http://citadel/s[serialnumber]) or on their Customer Configuration Sheet.

There are two places where the API password is used: configuring the Universal Transaction Gateway (UTG) and configuring the Point of Sale (POS) or Property Management System (PMS) if they are certified to pass it. For more information on how the API Password is used in configuring the UTG, see the UTG Quick Installation Guide>Configuring UTG>Configuring Express Parameters.

The API Password may be needed by the Interface to complete their configuration. Reference the Authentication Method column of the ISV Partner Playbook to determine if the interface uses API Password/Serial or Auth Token. The API Password is needed at the Interface level mainly for when the merchant processes through a shared UTG or one that uses an Application Service Provider (ASP) UTG server. Passing the API Password along with the Merchant ID at the POS/PMS level ensures that the transaction goes to the correct merchant. Note that an API Password passed by the Interface will always override the UTG's configured password.

NOTE: Recent certifications may use Access Token in lieu of API Password and Merchant ID credentials. It is possible that newer versions of existing interfaces may no longer utilize these credentials.

What is the Default Port Number Utilized by 4Go in the UTG?

When configuring the Universal Transaction Gateway (UTG) to utilize 4Go, a TCP/IP connection thread must be configured. While not programmatical, for consistency's sake, generally port 17476 is configured on the 4Go TCP/IP thread. When it first starts up, 4Go uses a technology called Broadcasting on the network to find a UTG with which it will pair up. If a UTG has 4Go enabled and has a TCP/IP thread configured, the two applications will pair up and 4Go will save the connection for any future connection attempts, until such time as it is unable to access the UTG.

For more information on adding connection threads in the UTG, please review the UTG Quick Installation Guide section "Configuring Interfaces". If you need to utilize another Point of Sale (POS) or Property Management System (PMS) that uses the TCP/IP or HTTP connection type, and you wish to use the 17476 port for 4Go, you will need to utilize a different port number for the POS/PMS or you will receive error messages of "TCPHost thread halted" or "HTTPapi thread halted".

For more information on these error messages, please review Resolve "Webserver Halted-Terminated" Error on Universal Transaction Gateway. If the Interface is hardcoded to use port 17476, you will need to change the port in the 4Go thread instead.

Note: This article does not apply when the Point of Sale used is Micros, as Micros uses a 4Go-like program called "Secure Suite 4 Micros" that does not operate in the same manner as 4Go.