How to configure PST Flight Deck server to use an alternate port for BITS uploads (4258406)

Description:

FD utilizes the BITS protocol to upload data from the FD Agent running on users’ workstations to a central processing directory, most commonly local to the PST Flight Deck. The BITS protocol is designed to run on port 80 by default. At times an organization may wish to run BITS on an alternate port for better visibility and control over the upload traffic. The following knowledge-base article details a method by which the FD server can be configured to receive BITS uploads on an alternate port, and how to configure PST PST Flight Deck to appropriately use this alternate BITS upload location.

Details:

First, disable BITS uploads under the Default Web Site.

1. Launch IIS Manager
   1. Go to Start>Run>Type “inetmgr” and click OK
2. Expand the Server name > Sites container > Default Web Site and select the “Uploads” virtual directory 

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3. In the “Features View”, under the “Other” category, double click on the “BITS Uploads” feature by deselecting the option to “Allow clients to upload files” and click “Apply” under “Actions” on the right of the IIS Manager.

Next, create a new site to host the BITS uploads on an alternate port

1. On the left side of IIS Manager, Right-Click the “Sites” Container and select “Add Website” 

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2. In the resultant window, populate the empty fields ensuring that the desired port is specified under the “Bindings” section:

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   For more details on how to set up a new site in IIS please refer to the following MSFT KB article: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772350(v=ws.10).aspx
3. Create a new virtual directory within the newly created site with the alias of “Uploads” and a local physical path in the location you wish to upload PST files to.

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4. Enable BITS uploads on the newly created Virtual directory
   1. Select the new “Uploads” virtual directory in the left pane of the IIS Manager
   2. In the center pane, scroll to the bottom under the “Other” section and double-click “BITS Uploads”
   3. Enable BITS by selecting “Allow clients to upload files
   4. Hit apply in the “Actions” pane on the right hand side to commit the changes

Modify PST FD configuration to reflect the new BITS directory

1. Under Settings > Locations > Edit > Upload Location (UNC) change the UNC path to reflect the UNC path of the new upload location and also Bits Upload Url.

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2. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the config files in the FD install directory (ie C:\Program Files\QUADROtech\PST FlightDeck\Core WebService\configs)
3. Make a copy of “MigrationAgent.XML” and rename it to “MigrationAgent.XML.Orig”
4. Edit MigrationAgent.XML as follows:
   1. Between the “” tags increment the number present up by one (ie if you had 19 you would change this to be 20)
   2. Between the “” tags, change the URL to reflect the URL your new upload directory (ie if you had http://PSTFDAlias/Uploads and you changed the port above to be 12345 then you would change it to be http://PSTFDAlias:12345/Uploads
5. Save the file and exit the editor

Test the modified configuration using the BITS tester
Prior to utilizing this configuration in a production environment, it is necessary to test the ability to reach the server, download and use the desired configuration file, and upload a file to the new BITs “Upload Location” . This testing will be performed by the “BitsTester” application found in the FD Agent’s install directory (Default C:\Program Files\QUADROtech\Migration Agent).

1. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the install path of the FD agent
2. Double-click on the “BitsTester.exe” application seen in Fig 2.
3. Click the Detect button in the resultant BitsTester application
   • Successful result will show something config file downloaded from FD server as seen in Fig 3.
4. Upon download of config file from the server, click the test button.
   • Results pane will run through a few short steps and if successful will result in a window similar to what is seen in Fig 4.

Figure 2:

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** NOTE: Actions detailed in this article were performed and designed in a preproduction system. Special consideration may be required if performing these actions against an active environment. Please consult the field enablement team prior to making these changes on a production environment which is actively uploading.**