KB98502065: WebCenter - Is it possible to install other software or a small website on the WebCenter Servers

Question

Is it possible to install other software on the WebCenter Application or Web Server, or on a server containing the FileStore?

Is it possible to host a small website on the WebCenter Web Server?

Answer

We strongly advise against installing other software on any machine that runs WebCenter. If more software is loaded onto a system, the risks of negatively affecting performance increase (and the larger the risk that such software is blamed for poor performance, e.g. when troubleshooting). If for IT policy reasons certain software needs to be installed, like a virus scanner, this is possible. But a virus scanner that intercepts all file system operations is prime example of software that can and will negatively affect performance.

Other Software Taking up Ports

If you do install other smaller software programs, such as Anti-Virus software, make sure this software does not take up any of the WebCenter ports.

Find the ports which need to be open/available for proper functioning of WebCenter in the Server System Requirements (Port Configurations section).

Hosting a Small Website

Typically it is expected that WebCenter has the Web Server at its disposal. If for some low traffic website, some static web content (HTML+assets) is served from the same IIS Server, this should not be a problem. If dynamic content (ASP, C#, PHP, JSP) is added to the equation, then it is a completely different story and you risk that we will require these things to be removed the first time Esko Support is contacted.