Connect ZKTeco attendance devices

ZKTeco devices keep punches in their own memory. The 360PeopleForce ZKTeco Relay runs on one Windows computer in the same office, reads every device about once a minute and sends new punches to 360PeopleForce over HTTPS. One relay serves all the devices of a site.

If the internet or a device is down, punches stay on the device and are sent as soon as the connection is back. The relay remembers what it already sent, and 360PeopleForce ignores duplicates, so nothing is lost or counted twice.

Your 360PeopleForce administrator or our onboarding team sets this up, and gives you the company ID and the relay key for the site.

• An attendance relay is created for each office or site. It comes with the company ID and a relay key (starts with pfr_). The key is shown only once, so keep it somewhere safe; it can be replaced (rotated) at any time.
• Each device is registered with its serial number, IP address, port and comm key, marked as a check-in, check-out or both, and assigned to the relay of its site.
• Employees use the same user ID on the device as their attendance ID in 360PeopleForce, so each punch is matched to the right person.

On each ZKTeco device, check these settings. Menu names vary slightly between models.

• A Windows PC or server on the same network as the attendance devices, switched on during working hours
• 64-bit Windows 10, Windows 11 or Windows Server 2016 or newer - nothing else to install
• Administrator rights on that machine for the installation
• Outbound HTTPS (port 443) to the 360PeopleForce API
• Network access from that machine to each device on its SDK port (4370 by default)

To check a device is reachable, run this in PowerShell on that computer, using the device's IP address. It must say TcpTestSucceeded : True.

Test-NetConnection 192.168.1.201 -Port 4370

1. 1

   Run the installer

   Open 360PeopleForce-ZKTecoRelay-Setup.exe and accept the Windows administrator prompt. If Windows SmartScreen shows "Windows protected your PC", choose More info, then Run anyway.

2. 2

   Connect to 360PeopleForce

   Keep the server URL as it is, then paste the company ID and the relay key. The key is hidden while you type.

3. 3

   Test

   Select Next. Setup checks the key with 360PeopleForce and shows your company, the relay and each device, with whether this computer can reach it.

4. 4

   Install

   Select Install. The relay is installed as a Windows service and starts straight away. It starts again with Windows from now on.

For many sites, IT teams can install without the wizard:

360PeopleForce-ZKTecoRelay-Setup.exe /VERYSILENT /COMPANYID=<company-id> /RELAYKEY=<relay-key>

• Start menu > 360PeopleForce ZKTeco Relay > Relay status (live): the service is running and every device is reachable.
• Punch on a device. Within about a minute, Relay logs (live) shows the punch being sent.
• The punch appears in 360PeopleForce attendance for that employee.

A new relay sends punches from the day it is installed. To bring in older punches still stored on a device, ask your 360PeopleForce administrator to run a history pull for that device and date range. The relay sends them in the background while new punches keep flowing. Pull only the period you need: a year of punches from a busy device can be tens of thousands.

• Update: download and run the newest installer. Your settings and the punch progress are kept, so nothing is sent twice.
• Change the company ID or relay key: Start menu > 360PeopleForce ZKTeco Relay > Change relay settings.
• Move to another computer: uninstall it from the old computer first (a device serves one relay at a time), then install it on the new one with the same company ID and relay key.
• Remove: Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps > 360PeopleForce ZKTeco Relay > Uninstall.

• Outbound HTTPS only. No inbound port is opened on your network and no VPN is needed.
• One key per site. Rotate it at any time; the old key stops working immediately.
• The relay key is readable by Windows administrators only, and the devices' comm keys are also encrypted on disk.
• It sends attendance punches only (the device, the user ID on the device, the time and how they punched), plus its version and computer name for support.