Configuring Your Firewall

Many of the programs made by dESCO require Winsock TCP/IP connectivity between the computers in your office. Firewalls exist to stop that from happening. This article shows you what programs and ports you need to allow through your Windows Firewall to allow ESC and SQL to communicate. While these instructions do not apply to third-party firewalls, the directories and program files remain the same. Consult your IT company or malware provider's support for assistance with any third-party firewalls.

Firewall Configuration for Microsoft SQL Server

1. Click Start → Settings → Control Panel. If you are using Windows 8 or 10, right-click on your Start icon and select Control Panel.
   
   
   
   
2. Open Windows Firewall. This option may or may not be listed under System and Security.
3. Click the Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall button.
4. Click the Change settings button and agree with any security prompts that appear.
   
   
   
   
5. Click the Allow another program... button.
   
   
   
   
6. Click the Browse button and select sqlbrowser.exe. This is typically found in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Shared\sqlbrowser.exe or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Shared\sqlbrowser.exe on 64-bit operating systems. Once you have the file selected, click Open.
7. Click Add to submit the exception.
   
   
   
   
8. Find the new exception in the list and check all three boxes (Domain, Home/Work and Public).
   
   
   
   
9. Repeat steps 5 - 8, this time selecting sqlservr.exe. This is typically found in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.ESC\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe. This is true even if you are running a 64-bit operating system.

Firewall Configuration for ESC

Allow the following programs or ports through the firewall on your ESC Server computer. Follow the instructions above for creating exceptions in your Firewall and search for the directories below.

Note: On the workstation computers, you only need to add an exception for port 443 so that they can communicate with our licensing servers.

* Access to ESC Licensing is necessary any time ESC is upgraded.

Additional Information:

If more than one instance of SQL Server is installed on the computer it may be necessary to search for all instances of sqlbrowser.exe and sqlservr.exe and add them to the Exceptions list.

These programs can also be excluded from other firewalls to allow ESC clients to connect.