Network Communication Ports in SOLIDWORKS Electrical – Hawk Ridge Systems Support

This article outlines the network communication ports that are used by SOLIDWORKS Electrical. This includes those used by the collaborative server, the SQL server, and the SolidNetWork License Manager (when using a network license).

There are two installation configurations for SOLIDWORKS Electrical: standalone and client-server. For client-server configurations, the client application will need to communicate over the network to the collaborative server and SQL server on the server computer. For standalone configurations, all program components are on the same computer, so there is no communication over the network between these components. In both configurations, a network license may be used, so that there will be communication over the network to the SolidNetWork License Manager. See the relevant sections below for information on which ports are used for this communication.

Collaborative Server

SOLIDWORKS Electrical includes a collaborative server that manages the communication between the client application(s) and the SQL server. By default, it will connect to the client application using TCP port 26666. In a multiple-client environment, it will use ports 26666 to 26666+n, where n is the number of consecutive users. E.g. For three users, ports 26666 to 26669 will need to be open. Ensure that inbound and outbound rules are added to the firewall to allow this communication.

SQL Server

By default, SOLIDWORKS Electrical installations will use a SQL Express instance named TEW_SQLEXPRESS. Such “named” instances use dynamic ports, where the SQL server selects an available port when the SQL server service is started. This can cause issues if connecting through a firewall, so the SQL server may need to be configured to use static ports instead. The Microsoft article at the link below can be used to configure this. Rules can then be added to the firewall for the selected port.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms177440.aspx

In cases where the SW Electrical data has been installed onto an “unnamed” or “default” instance (i.e. the SQL instance is simply referred to by the name of the machine on which it is installed, e.g. “localhost” or “sweserver”), the instance will use static ports by default. In particular, it will use TCP/IP port 1433. Note that unnamed instances cannot be switched to use dynamic ports.

In addition to the TCP/IP port described above, the SQL Server Browser service uses UDP port 1434, which should also be opened in any firewalls. More information regarding the SQL Server Browser can be found at the link below.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181087(v=sql.105).aspx

SolidNetWork License Manager

If your SW Electrical installation uses a network license (rather than a standalone license), then the application will need to communicate over the network to the SolidNetWork License Manager. The default ports for this communication are TCP/IP 25734 and 25735. These ports should be added as firewall exceptions.

You can check which port and server name the application is using by running the SolidNetWork License Manager on the client machine. Refer to this guide for information on finding the SolidNetWork License Manager.

Port Troubleshooting

Ping and telnet tests run from the command prompt are very useful for troubleshooting network and port connection issues. A ping test (ping <server name>) will tell you if the computer from which the command is run can find the server computer over the network. A telnet test (telnet <server name> <port number>) will test the network communication to the server component over a specific port.

If you don’t know which port the collaborative server or SQL server are using, the following command can be run in the command prompt on the computer running the relevant services to determine which port is currently being used by that service.

netstat -a -b -o |find "<service process ID>"

Here, <service process ID> is the process ID specified in the “PID” column on the Services tab of the Windows Task Manager. For example, in the screenshot below, the process IDs for the collaborative server and SQL server are 1780 and 2248, respectively.