XCOM uses by default ports 8044-8047, do they have to be defined as bidirectional to the firewall?
XCOM r11.6 for Windows
XCOM r12.0 for Windows
XCOM r11.6 for Linux/Unix
XCOM r12.0 for Linux/Unix
XCOM r12.0 for z/OS
Not necessarily. Let's look at the following setup:
XCOM Windows=====Firewall Machine=====XCOM Linux
If XCOM Windows has to be able to start a transfer to XCOM Linux AND vice versa, then yes, the Firewall Machine has to be configured bi-directional for ports 8044-8047.
If XCOM Windows has to be able to start a transfer to XCOM Linux but XCOM Linux must be prohibited from starting a transfer to XCOM Windows, then the Firewall Machine has to be configured uni-directional Windows > Linux. A similar uni-directional setup is possible the other way.
With a TCP connection, packets are always moving both ways, otherwise a TCP connection could not even be established. This is not to be confused with a Firewall Machine being configured for a TCP connection in one direction but not in the other, or as the case may be in both directions.