Portfolio 3 - Recommendations for Microsoft Windows Servers – Extensis

This is a recommendations checklist to ensure that you (and your Windows Server) are fully prepared for your Extensis Portfolio installation. Please ensure that you have read this document in its entirety prior initiating your Portfolio installation.

HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS

[_] Recommended Microsoft Windows Server hardware specifications:

Total Assets	Users	CPU Cores	RAM	BOOT	DATA	Drive Speed	Amazon EC2	Azure
< 50,000	3	4	16GB	100GB	125GB	60 MB/s	m5.xlarge	D4s v3
< 500,000	5	4	16GB	100GB	250GB	180 MB/s	m5.xlarge	D4s v3
< 1 Million	10	8	16GB	150GB	500GB	250 MB/s	m5.2xlarge	D8s v3
< 5 Million	25	12	24GB	500GB	2.5TB	250 MB/s	not recommended	not recommended
< 10 Million	50	24	32GB	1TB	5TB	250 MB/s	not recommended	not recommended

Note that this table assumes 3(three) total active catalogs per Portfolio instance.

OPERATING SYSTEM

2. [_] Windows Server 2019 or Windows Server 2016 are the recommended Windows Server versions for any new Portfolio installations. Windows Server 2012 R2 (Standard) is currently still supported — but, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012 are not supported. Note that the Portfolio installer is expecting the various Microsoft Windows Supplemental ( library ) Updates to be current. Ensure that you have performed all of the latest Microsoft Windows Server Updates ( both critical and supplemental ), and have rebooted the server prior to your scheduled Portfolio installation.

LICENSING

3. [_] Portfolio requires a direct outbound connection ( https://cwsg.extensis.com via TCP Port 443 ) to initially establish product licensing and note that Web/Security proxies are not supported. Please ensure that the assigned Extensis Account Administrator is able to properly authenticate to the Extensis Website ( https://secure.extensis.com/loginpage ) and that all purchased Portfolio product modules appear within the My Products section.

Extensis Product Licensing — Customer Guidance

OUTBOUND INTERNET URLS

4. [_] Outbound Internet URLs :

Description	URL	Notes
Portfolio Admin - RTI ; Portfolio Web / Desktop - ReachOut	http://analytics-portfolio.extensis.com	Optional.
Portfolio Admin - Licensing	https://cwsg.extensis.com	Required to initially establish product licensing.
Portfolio Admin - Diagnostics	https://extensis-portfolio-diagnostic-uploads.s3-us-east-1.amazonaws.com	Required for diagnostic reporting functionality.
Portfolio Web / Desktop - Smart Keywording	https://api.clarifai.com	Required for Smart Keywording functionality.
Portfolio Web / Desktop - Basemap	http://server.arcgisonline.com ; http://services.arcgisonline.com	Required for geospatial functionality.
Portfolio Admin / Web / Desktop - Help	http://helpdocs.extensis.com/portfolio/<version>/<interface>/<language>/Content/Home.htm	Required for Help functionality ( Client Side ).
Portfolio Web / Desktop - Feedback	portfolio.feedback@extensis.com	Required for feedback functionality ( Client Side ).

FILE SHARING PROTOCOL

5. [_] For customers installing Portfolio on Windows Servers — which may be connecting to one or more SMB file shares — ensure that all connections are SMB 3.0 or higher.

Customers with EMC Isilon units should verify that OneFS is a minimum of version 7.1.1. Running the Get-SmbConnection command from within Windows PowerShell will show which version of SMB has been negotiated ( which version of the SMB Protocol ? ).
Customers with EMC Isilon units should verify that the “All, Change Notify” setting has been enabled ( Isilon Management Interface >> Advanced Settings ).
1. Visit https://support.emc.com/kb/425721 for more information on this topic ( valid EMC account required for EMC KB article viewing ).

6. [_] Portfolio does not fully support “Watched Folders” residing on DFS ( Distributed Files Shares ). Portfolio will be able to initially ingest assets stored on DFS , but will not immediately recognize files or folder changes due to protocol differences in DFS versus standard SMB 3.0.

1. Watched Folders residing on DFS shares will need to be configured for a timed synchronization interval ( e.g. “Every 1 Minute”).

7. [_] For customers using Acronis Files Connect ( formerly ExtremeZ-IP ), please ensure that your AFP Server Name (within the Acronis Access Connect configuration settings) is exactly the same as the Windows Computer Name (“Control Panel” > “Settings”). By default, Acronis Access Connect will configure it’s AFP Server Name by appending “ IP” to the end of the Windows Computer Name (e.g. a Windows Computer Name of “NYCDAMSRV01” would appear as “NYCDAMSRV01 IP” within the Acronis Access Connect configuration settings). Please ensure that your Macintosh workstations are able to mount their various file shares via AFP using the identical Computer Name that your Windows workstations are using when mounting the corresponding shares via SMB/CIFS.

DRIVE SPACE

8. [_] Portfolio must be installed on the “boot” drive (typically drive “C:\”). Ensure that you have enough available drive space for the Microsoft Windows Operating System, Extensis Portfolio application (~1GB), Extensis Portfolio Catalogs, supplemental software, and various future updates. A 100 GB boot partition is the recommended bare minimum for new Portfolio installs on Windows Servers.

9. [_] For customers installing Portfolio on Amazon EC2, note that Portfolio does not currently support Amazon S3 or Glacier storage. Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Storage) is the only supported storage type. For customers installing on Microsoft Azure, note that Premium SSD Managed storage is recommended.

10. [_] Portfolio automatically creates “Preview” files (stored as “.jpg” or “.mp4” within a special folder structure) which are used for rapid, full-screen viewing of documents, images, and video streaming. Previews are typically stored on the same file server where the original assets also reside, but must be located in a pre-determined folder structure outside of any of your original asset folder structures. Please ensure that you have allotted enough drive space on your file server for Portfolio Preview files.

1. A Portfolio Catalog consisting mostly of document and images will consume approximately 20GB of drive space per 100K items for Previews (using the default preview setting of 1600 pixels).
2. A more video centric Portfolio Catalog (making use of the default setting of 480p video previews) can easily surpass 500GB of drive space (or more) per 100K items for Previews.

11. Immediately after installation, the location of “The Vault” ( Portfolio Admin > Global Settings > Portfolio Vault Configuration > Portfolio Vault Folder ) should be changed from "C:\ProgramData\Extensis\Portfolio\mongodb" to an alternate ( non-boot drive ) location ( e.g. "D:\Extensis Portfolio VAULT” ).

1. The location of the Vault will need to appear as a locally attached drive to Portfolio ( e.g “D:\Extensis Portfolio VAULT” ) and the drive speed should not fall below a minimum threshold of 60 MB/s.
2. Portfolio Vault storage does not currently support Windows Volume Mount Points.

12. [_] Portfolio has the capability to automatically create scheduled Backup Archives (stored as “portfolio_yyyy-mm-ddThh-mm-ss.xxxZ.zip”) which can be used for rapid restoration. Backup Archives are typically stored on the same file server where the original assets reside, but must be located in a pre-determined folder structure outside of any of your original asset folder structures. Please ensure that you have allotted enough drive space on your file server for your Portfolio Backup Archives.

1. A Portfolio Backup Archive will consume approximately 1.25GB to 4GB of drive space per 100K total items.
2. Portfolio’s internal backup routine does NOT backup the contents of the Vault.

13. [_] A typical drive configuration / example folder structure for initially Cataloging a grand total of ~ 50,000 original assets ( consuming ~ 1TB of storage space ) would be as follows :

“C:\” ( Boot ) 100GB ( Windows Server 2012, Portfolio base + logs + work folders )

“D:\” ( Data ) 2TB

\/_/ - ASSETS ( Shared ; Originals - Portfolio Watched Folder based Catalogs )

\/_/ - Extensis Portfolio Backups

\/_/ - Extensis Portfolio Logs

\/_/ - Extensis Portfolio Previews

\/_/ - Extensis Portfolio VAULT ( Originals - Portfolio Vault based Catalogs )

\/_/ - Extensis Portfolio Work

DRIVE SPEED

14. [_] “Enterprise Class” hard drives typically benchmark at 180 - 250 MBps (or faster) and this is the expectation for new Portfolio installations. An excellent, free tool that will allow you to quickly determine your server’s benchmark is HD_Speed ( http://www.steelbytes.com/?mid=20 ):

1. Note the the “HD_Speed” tool will destroy drive data if set to “Mode: Write”. Please ensure that you do not change the HD_Speed tool’s default of “Mode: Read”.
2. Ensure that the HD_Speed tool is configured to test your server’s local boot drive (typically “Drive C:”). This typically requires you to initially execute the HD_Speed tool from within the Windows File Explorer by right-clicking and then selecting “Run as Administrator”.
3. If your server’s boot drive is benchmarking unusually slow, consider changing the “Block Size” within the HD_Speed tool from the default of “Auto” to “4MB”. In some cases, this will dramatically increase your Read test results.
4. Note that the HD_Speed test will run continuously until stopped and that you will only need to perform the speed test for a couple of minutes to get a stable average speed.
5. Consider performing the HD_Speed test during peak corporate usage times.
6. Additional information from VMware on testing virtual machine storage I/O performance can be found via the following URL: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1006821

15. [_] Ideally, the assets that Portfolio is going to be cataloging should appear as a locally attached drive (e.g. a physically attached drive array or a SAN share attached to the Portfolio Server via Fibre Channel). If the original assets (files) that Portfolio is going to be cataloging do not appear as residing locally to Portfolio itself (e.g. a share residing on a SAN located elsewhere on the Local Area Network), ensure that Portfolio has 1000 Mbps or greater network connectivity and Read/Write/Modify access to these assets via SMB.

If you intend to create one or more Portfolio Catalogs which are “watching” file structures of greater than 200,000 files, it is strongly recommended that the files appear as residing on locally attached drives to Portfolio itself (e.g. “D:\Data”). Attempting to “marry” a Portfolio Catalog to extremely large + complex folder structures (greater than 500,000 files) via SMB over your corporate LAN/WAN can result in sluggish “ingest” performance as well as add considerable (and constant) network “chatter”.

16. [_] If the original assets (files) that Portfolio is going to be cataloging reside on a standalone NAS device (e.g. a Drobo unit), note that sluggish read/write access (less than 60MBps/480 Mbps) will have a dramatic impact on various operations within Portfolio (cataloging, batch conversion, video transcoding, metadata embedding, etc.). If you intend to have Portfolio catalog assets residing on a standalone NAS device, please ensure that you have thoroughly tested the share access speed between your NAS device, Portfolio, and your various user workstations prior to proceeding with your Portfolio installation.

NETWORKING

17.[_] Extensis Portfolio Suite LAN/WAN/Internet Firewall Considerations:

Portfolio makes use of the following TCP Listeners:

TCP Port	Description
8090	Portfolio Web / Desktop / Flow / API
8091	Portfolio Administration
9443	Portfolio Web / Desktop / Flow / API – SECURE – [ OPTIONAL; requires internal SSL Certificate installation; see item 19 ]
9453	Portfolio Administration – SECURE – [ OPTIONAL; requires internal SSL Certificate installation; see item 19 ]
9877	Portfolio Media Engine – [ OPTIONAL ]

Portfolio NetPublish makes use of the following TCP Listeners:

TCP Port	Description
8085	Portfolio NetPublish
8095	Portfolio NetPublish – SECURE – [ OPTIONAL; requires internal SSL Certificate installation; see item 19 ]

File Services make use of the following TCP Listeners:

TCP Port	Description
445	SMB
548	AFP – Apple (Macintosh) Filing Protocol – [ OPTIONAL, Acronis Files Connect ]

18. [_] Firewall “Port Forwarding” / Reverse Proxy considerations for Portfolio Web and/or NetPublish users requiring access via the Internet:

TCP Port	Description
8085	Portfolio NetPublish
8090	Portfolio Web / Desktop / Flow / API
8095	Portfolio NetPublish – SECURE – [ OPTIONAL; requires internal SSL Certificate installation; see item 19 ]
9443	Portfolio Web / Desktop / Flow / API – SECURE – [ OPTIONAL; requires internal SSL Certificate installation; see item 19 ]

SECURITY

19. [_] If you decide to run the Portfolio Services under a Domain-Level Service Account, ensure that the Service Account has Local Admin Rights on the Windows Server (that Portfolio is running on) as well as Read/Write/Modify access via SMB to any assets that may be residing on any shares on the SAN.

20. [_] If your Corporate I.T. policy requires access to network resources via secure HTTPS (instead of HTTP), note that Reverse Proxy ( Apache, Microsoft IIS, NGINX, etc. ) is the recommended method for maximum flexibility + ease of SSL certificate management :

Example Reverse Proxy : NetPublish Website

https://images.example.com/website_name >> http://10.1.1.11:8085/website_name

Example Reverse Proxy : Portfolio Web / Express / Flow / API

https://images.example.com >> http://10.1.1.11:8090

★ Extensis Portfolio — Internet Access : Firewall + Reverse Proxy Considerations

21. [_] If your corporate I.T. policy requires a resident anti-virus scanner to be installed on the Windows server where Portfolio will also reside, consider installing the anti-virus application after Portfolio has been successfully installed and tested. If installing anti-virus after Portfolio is not possible, you will need to completely disable the resident Anti-Virus scanner prior to the Portfolio installation. Also, after installing resident anti-virus, the various Portfolio directories will need to be excluded from the resident scans:

https://help.extensis.com/hc/en-us/articles/115007401228

REQUIRED SUPPLEMENTAL APPLICATIONS

22. [_] Ensure that the latest version of Microsoft Edge ( Chromium ) , Google Chrome , or Mozilla Firefox have been installed.

Microsoft Edge ( Chromium ) Offline Installer ( 64bit )

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/business/download

Google Chrome Offline Installer ( 64bit )

https://cloud.google.com/chrome-enterprise/browser/download/
- Download either the Chrome Bundle or the Chrome MSI installer

Mozilla Firefox Offline Installer ( 64bit )

https://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-latest-ssl&os=win64&lang=en-US

23. [_] Ensure that both the .NET Framework 3.5 and the .NET Framework 4.6 Features have been installed.

For Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2012 R2, installation of .NET 3.5 may fail ( depending on the original installation method ): https://danielengberg.com/install-net-framework-35

24. [_] Additional helper application installers (Download — Do Not Install):

Adobe DNG Converter:

http://www.adobe.com/go/dng_converter_win