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Network Ports

Ayelet Rabinowitz
  • Updated

PhotoMesh is designed to work smoothly whether you run it locally on one computer or across a distributed network.

  • Local use (standalone builds): No firewall configuration is required. All components communicate internally through localhost, and no external access is opened.
  • Distributed or automated use: When running fusers in a pool or using REST APIs for automation, PhotoMesh uses a small range of ports (8085–8095) for communication. Port 8085 is dedicated to fuser pool communication, while the higher ports (8086–8095) are used for automation and API access.

Incremental Ports: To avoid conflicts, PhotoMesh uses an incremental fallback system. If one port is already in use, the system automatically binds to the next available port in the range. This ensures that multiple instances can run on the same machine without error.

Troubleshooting Tips

  • If PhotoMesh is not able to connect to fusers or APIs after opening the ports, make sure you are running as an administrator and that no other application is already using those ports.
  • Restarting the PhotoMesh Manager forces it to rebind and move to the next available port in the sequence.
  • Verify that your firewall allows inbound access to ports 8085–8095.
  • Manually Configuring Firewall and URL Reservations: If you still cannot access the PhotoMesh, Fuser, or Project Queue API, the issue may be caused by blocked firewall ports or missing URL reservations. In this case, you can manually add rules and registrations from the command line. Below are the steps for each of the API's: 

If after handling the firewall issue, you still cannot access the Project Queue reference guide or manager/editor, try running PhotoMesh from a local disk rather than a network drive, or use the following links to access the pages directly: 

PhotoMesh API

To open the PhotoMesh API port 8086:

  1. Click the Start button, type "cmd", and then select Command Prompt from the list.

  2. In the command prompt window, type the following and click Enter:

    netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="PM API WebAPI TCP Port 8086" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=8086

  3. Then type the following and click Enter:

    netsh http add urlacl url=http://*:8086/ SDDL=D:(A;;GX;;;WD)

The first line adds a firewall rule named "PM API WebAPI TCP Port 8086” allowing it to bypass the firewall, and the second line assigns the rights for the port.

 

If you want to change the port of the PhotoMesh API, do the following:

  1. In a text editor, open the PhotoMesh.exe.config file that is located in the application files folder, and replace the value of the "API.API URL" key.

    <appSettings>
       <add key="API.API URL" value="http://XXXX" />
</appSettings></appSettings>

  2. Open in a text editor the .env file that is located in the application files' PhotoMesh.js folder, and replace the value of PHOTOMESH_EXE_SERVER_PORT. E.g.,

    PHOTOMESH_EXE_SERVER_PORT=XXXX

PhotoMesh Fuser API

To open the PhotoMesh Fuser API port 8085:

  1. Click the Start button, type "cmd", and then select Command Prompt from the list.

  2. In the command prompt window, type the following and click Enter:

    netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="PM Fuser API WebAPI TCP Port 8085" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=8085

  3. Then type the following and click Enter:

    netsh http add urlacl url=http://*:8085/ SDDL=D:(A;;GX;;;WD)

The first line adds a firewall rule named "PM Fuser API WebAPI TCP Port 8085” allowing it to bypass the firewall, and the second line assigns the rights for the port.

 

If you want to change the port of the Fuser API, do the following:

  • In a text editor, open the PMFuserService.exe.config file located in the application files' Fuser folder, and replace the value of webApiUrl. E.g.,

    <add key="WebApiUrl" value="http://*:XXXX/" />

Project Queue API

To open the Project Queue API fuser port 8087:

  1. Click the Start button, type "cmd", and then select Command Prompt from the list.

  2. In the command prompt window, type the following and click Enter:

    netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="PM ProjectQueue WebAPI TCP Port 8087" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=8087

  3. Then type the following and click Enter:

    netsh http add urlacl url=http://*:8087/ SDDL=D:(A;;GX;;;WD)

The first line adds a firewall rule named "PM ProjectQueue WebAPI TCP Port 8087” allowing it to bypass the firewall, and the second line assigns the rights for the port.

 

If you want to change the port of the Project Queue API, do the following:

  • In a text editor, open the .env file located in the application files' PhotoMesh.js folder, and replace the port number. E.g., PORT=8087 > PORT=XXXX

 

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