Technical requirements for using Roam

Firewall Configuration

To access Roam behind certain firewalls, you may need to allow access to:

Domains & Protocols

• wss://ro.am
• wss://*.ro.am
• https://ro.am
• https://*.ro.am
• https://roamstatic.com

IP Addresses & Ports

66.51.208.0/20 for:

• 443 (UDP + TCP)
• 3478 (UDP)
• 19302 (UDP)

Operating System & Browser Support

To balance innovation with broad access, Roam intends to support operating system and desktop browser releases for at least 2.5 to 3 years from their initial release. These requirements represent the minimum versions needed to run the Roam desktop and mobile apps or access Roam via a desktop web browser. We will periodically update these minimum version requirements as older releases reach end-of-life.

Application

Roam works best when clients use our desktop application. As a product that users have open most of the day, being able to easily find it, get native notifications, and optimize use of resources make the experience better than it can be on the web. The application is signed, and is available at ro.am/download.

We typically update the app on a weekly cadence on Tuesday evening Eastern Time with occasional mid-week bug fixes. The app includes an auto updater**, so typically no action is needed after the initial install. We typically deprecate and disable app versions after 4 weeks, so we highly recommend using an installation method that supports automatic app updates. We do support accessing Roam via Chromium based browsers (e.g. Chrome and Edge) and Safari, although as noted the experience is not as optimized.

** The auto-updater is not available on Linux or when Roam is installed via the Microsoft Installer (MSI) on Windows to a per-machine location. On Linux, installing operating system updates will update Roam. When using the MSI to a per-machine location, updates must be installed manually by IT on a regular basis, ideally weekly.

Automating MDM Solution

Roam offers the Microsoft Installer (MSI) on Windows if you’re automating installation and updates through an MDM solution.

WebSockets

The Roam client uses WebSockets in addition to normal HTTP requests to communicate information about your virtual HQ to clients.

WebSockets are a protocol for bidirectional, real-time communication between a client and a server over the web. It allows for low-latency communication between the two endpoints by keeping a single connection open for the duration of the communication, rather than opening and closing a new connection for each message.

WebSockets is built on top of the HTTP protocol and uses the same TLS port (443), but it uses a different handshake process to establish the connection. Once the connection is established, the client and server can send messages to each other as needed, in a full-duplex manner, meaning that both parties can send and receive messages simultaneously.

WebRTC

WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is a set of APIs and protocols that allow web browsers and native applications to send audio and video content in real-time to other users. Although it can be used in a peer to peer manner, all communications to and from Roam clients go to AV servers in the closest one of our 12 global regions called a Selective Forwarding Unit, or SFU. These servers then forward those streams to other participants in the same room in Roam, either directly or by relaying through another global region’s SFU servers.