Best Practice Information

Domain and Role/Product

<a class="s6m-tag-link sm-link" data-predicate="ds6w:what" data-tag-value="SOLIDWORKS Electrical" data-type="internal" contenteditable="false">SOLIDWORKS Electrical</a> 

What's Covered? - Jump to each section using the Contents List in the top right!

• Type of servers used by SOLIDWORKS electrical
• Firewall software rules
• Connection Troubleshooting, SQL Server & EwServer
• Issues with EwServer
• Real case of ports used (SQL & EwServer)
   

Revision History

<strong>Note</strong>
<i>All SolidPractices are written as guidelines. It is a strong recommendation to use these documents only after properly evaluating your requirements. Distribution of this document is limited to Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks employees, VARs and customers that are on active subscription. You may not post this document on blogs or any internal or external forums without prior written authorization from Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation.</i>
<i>This document was updated using version SOLIDWORKS Electrical 2023 SP04. If you have questions or need assistance in understanding the content, please get in touch with your designated reseller.</i>

<strong>Your Feedback Requested</strong>
We would like to hear your feedback and suggestions for new topics. After reviewing this document, please take a few minutes to fill out a <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SolidPractices" rel="nofollow">brief survey</a>. Your feedback will help us create the content that directly addresses your challenges.

1) Preface

This SolidPractices document provides insight into the communications utilized by  SOLIDWORKS® Electrical software.

Additionally, a detailed troubleshooting guide for connectivity can be found in chapter Connection Troubleshooting.

Version utilized for this document’s creation is SOLIDWORKS Electrical is 2026

2) Servers used by SOLIDWORKS Electrical

SOLIDWORKS Electrical connects to up to three distinct Servers/Services:

• Collaborative Server

• Microsoft SQL Server

• File server compatible with Microsoft.

Remarks: 

• SOLIDWORKS Electrical utilizes TCP ports to stablish the connections.

• There is no communication between SQL Server and EwServer

• SQL server and EwServer can be installed in different computers[1]

[1] SQL Server and EwServer cannot be installed remotely (from client to server). Both must be installed on the server itself through the installation manager.

a) SOLIDWORKS Electrical Collaborative Server service

SOLIDWORKS electrical collaborative server service, aka EwServer.exe, is a service designed to run on a server, which offers collaborative functionality for multi-user environments. The outbound port used is 26666 (hard coded so cannot be changed) and can be co-located with the SQL server or hosted separately. To ensure optimal performance, only one EwServer.exe should be running in the local network.

When SOLIDWORKS Electrical client starts, a dynamic socket is initiated from the client’s machine to the server on port 26666.

Following this initial connection, a subsequent in needed required, which is also initiated by the client.

To see a real case of the ports opened and used once SOLIDWORKS Electrical is running, see Real case of ports used (SQL & EwServer)
 

b) Microsoft SQL Server

SQL Server TCP ports can be configured to utilize dynamic or fixed ports, being this one the recommended for SOLIDWORKS Electrical. 

Protocols utilized by SQL Server, including Shared Memory, Named Pipes and TCP/IP, must be Enabled:

To see a real case of the ports opened and used once SOLIDWORKS Electrical is running, see Real case of ports used (SQL & EwServer)

c) File server

PDM vault or any cloud storage solutions like 3DEXPERIENCE Drive for sharing SOLIDWORKS Electrical data among multiple users is not recommendable. In particular for projects, SWE updates the files each time after modifying entities such as symbols or wires; cloud storage could overwrite changes made by other users, leading to unexpected results and database collisions.

3) Firewall software 

This chapter aims to provide fundamental guidelines for configuring firewall rules to facilitate network traffic between SOLIDWORKS Electrical, SQL Server, and Collaborative Server. While these rules should enable communication, it's important to note that other rules or firewalls (such as Windows Defender) might still block traffic. Configuring firewalls properly requires extensive knowledge, so if you encounter any issues, please consult an IT security expert or a professional service.

NOTE: Following rules have been validated in an environment with the default settings of Windows Defender Security.

• Notice that depending on the number of firewalls configured on the user’s environment, policy restrictions, firewall solution used, etc. these rules may not be enough for a comprehensive deployment.
• Firewalls can be controlled by Group Policy, showing a warning like follows: 

In these cases, it is essential to engage the IT department. This is because if a connection is allowed through a port at the user level but not at the group level, the port will be closed without the user’s knowledge.

• Allow inbound / Outbounds connections:

REMARK: If SOLIDWORKS Electrical is running in the same machine as EwServer service is running (like standalone installation), it is not necessary to setup any rule in the firewall.

Firewall is a network security device, to allow or to block network traffic. When SOLIDWORKS Electrical is running in the same computer as EwServer, connections are done at local level (localhost /127.0.0.1), so no network traffic, no firewall.. 

a) Firewall rules on the server

• For EwServer

Inbound rule for SOLIDWORKS Electrical Collaborative Server, port 26666:

As the return port is a non-controllable-port-private, the Remote port must be “All Ports”

• For SQL server

Inbound rule as following (see Microsoft SQL Server, to know the port number):

b) Firewall rules on the client

Only rules must be setup for SOLIDWORKS electrical, no need to SQL server as it is not installed on the client.

26666 must be established as Outbound

As inbound rule, any local port and port 26666 as Remote Port.[1]

[1] In normal conditions, it is not necessary to set up inbound rules on the client

4) Connection Troubleshooting, SQL & EwServer

a) Issues with SQL Server

Following the main issues reported, which have an initial resolution. 

1 Cannot connect to database

The execution error log will give some clues about what is happening; to open it, follow the next steps:

SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) will be the tool for troubleshooting. It can be downloaded from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ssms/install/install 

2 Database of projects is not opened

b) Issues with EwServer

1. Cannot connect to Collaborative server

Following different messages which, indicate there is a connection issue with the collaborative server.

TIP: To see more details about the error, click on the down error to see the whole message

All the above cases indicate:

2. Wrong server name; double check the server name or IP address is the right one

• The port 26666 is not reachable at server side. To double check this assumption, open a Command Prompt session and run “netstat -an -p tcp” while SOLIDWORKS Electrical is running.

In addition, review there is none rule blocking old versions of SOLIDWORKS electrical: 

Other possible reasons (and suggestions), based on the Technical Support knowledge

1. Connection blocked by antivirus/cybersecurity protocol other than Windows Defender (such as BitDefender). ->Must be solved by customer's IT department in accordance with suggested firewall configurations/port rules.
2. Virtual server machine hosted in a cloud environment. Ping from client to server ~20ms. - >Solved by installing server components on a local machine (ping from client to this machine was ~9ms).
3. Server machine on different subnet from client machines. Ping over 20ms. - > Solved by relocating server machine to same subnet as clients, or a subnet which has ping closer to 0ms.
4. EwServer installed and running on client machine while client is pointed to server side EwServer. -> Solved by stopping the EwServer which was running on the client.
5. Network adapter set to turn off to save power (default Windows configuration).  > Solved by disabling network adapter configurations "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" and "green ethernet" found at 'Device Manager' > 'Network adapters' > Right click network adapter > 'Properties' > 'Power Management'.
6. A rule/software at the VPN which renames the ports (26667 was renamed to 54254 for example).  -> Solved by disabling the port renaming configuration.
7. Server using IPv6 DNS setting while client was using IPv4 DNS setting. -> Solved by turning off IPv6 protocol for all network adapters/using the same DNS setting for Server and Client.

1 Logs for EwServer.exe

In case Technical Support demands the activation of the logs for the Collaborative Server service, follow the next steps and deliver the logs files in the Service Request.

• Activation Server Logs

Logs must be activated manually at the SERVER side. The file log will be created right after restart the SOLIDWORKS Electrical Collaborative Server service (Ewserver.exe).

By activating the logs, the performance could be impacted therefore they need to be used only during the troubleshooting time. 

Caution: Incorrectly editing the registry can severely damage your operating system. The SOLIDWORKS® User Success team strongly suggests that you back up the registry data before changing the registry.

• Registry entry

The keys need to be created in the existing registry entry 

“Computer\\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\SolidWorks\\SOLIDWORKS Electrical\\Collaborative Server”

• Log file

The logs files will be created in the folder defined. Attach a copy of the folder to the Service Request for its analyzing by R&D. 

5) Real case of ports used (SQL & EwServer)

This chapter outlines a real case of ports used by SOLIDWORKS Electrical, EwServer, and  SQL Server.

For this case, command netstat has been used.

Remark: “netstat -a -n /p tcp >C:\\Tmp\\ports.txt” (without quotes) will redirect the output to a file.

For more information, visit https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/netstat

a) On the server (IP address: 10.35.97.103)

b) On the client (IP address: 10.35.97.224)

1 Instance (SOLIDWORKSElectrical.exe) running in the client

6) Additional content

a) Related QA’s

• QA00000120755 - My SOLIDWORKS® Electrical client cannot connect to my SOLIDWORKS Electrical server unless the firewall is disabled, but I must keep the firewall on. How do I configure the firewall so that the client can connect to the server?

• QA00000123444 - In the SOLIDWORKS® Electrical Schematic application, how do I configure the database name and instance to use IP addresses that avoid DNS servers?

• QA00000123759 - What causes the SOLIDWORKS® Electrical ‘TEW_SQLExpress’ instance to stop running and display the error code ‘10106’?

• QA00000120004 - In the SOLIDWORKS® Electrical software, is it possible to use VPN to connect to my SOLIDWORKS Electrical server?

• QA00000118638 - The SOLIDWORKS® Installation Manager cannot create a Microsoft® SQL Server® instance when installing SOLIDWORKS Electrical. What do I do?

• QA00000123483 - How can I prevent the Microsoft® SQL Server® database transaction log for a SOLIDWORKS® PDM database from growing too large? If the file grows too large, how do I shrink it?

• QA00000419353 - In SOLIDWORKS® Electrical, can I recover my data if a disaster occurs and I did not back up my environment?

b) Virtualized environments

SOLIDWORKS Electrical can function within virtualized environments but hosting EwServer.exe on a virtual machine outside of the local network may lead to significant performance degradation or even connectivity failures. SOLIDWORKS Electrical is not supported on WAN networks nor hosting EWServer.exe on the cloud.

REMARK: The timeout for EwServer is about 200 milliseconds, so any micro cut in the network or a big timeout will cause the disconnection of the EwServer and client connection, having to restart the application afterwards. 

c) Miscellaneous

Some additional resources for further security information, insights or recent updates.

• Partners-Electrical community

  • https://dspart005-eu1-partners-3dswym.3dexperience.3ds.com/community/swym:partners:DSPART005:community:kvTWboATSfO028HbstqYUg

• Microsoft Intune:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/intune/intune-service/fundamentals/tutorial-walkthrough-endpoint-manager