Documentation forWeb Help Desk
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WHD 2026.2.1 System Requirements

Release date: July 30, 2026

The information on this page applies only to WHD 2026.2.1. For guidance related to other versions, see Web Help Desk Previous Version Documentation.

See the following sections:

WHD server requirements

Hardware

If you plan to have more than 20 tech sessions open, WHD recommends adding 1 GB RAM for each additional 10 technicians. Sizing examples are listed in the following table. You might also need to adjust the maximum memory available, as described in Configuring the JVM.

Component Minimum Recommended
CPU

64-bit x86_64, dual-core, 2.0 GHz

 Quad-core x86_64, 3.0 GHz or faster
RAM

  • Fewer than 20 technicians: 4 GB

  • 20 technicians: 4 GB

  • 30 technicians: 5 GB

  • 40 technicians: 6 GB

  • 50 technicians: 7 GB

  • 100 technicians: 12 GB

  • Fewer than 20 technicians: 8 GB

  • 20 technicians: 8 GB

  • 30 technicians: 10 GB

  • 40 technicians: 11 GB

  • 50 technicians: 12 GB

  • 100 technicians: 12 GB
Hard drive space

20 GB

 40 GB+ (SSD / NVMe recommended)
Disk Type HDD SSD or NVMe (significantly improves startup and database I/O)
Network 100 Mbps 100 Mbps x86_64 only
Architecture x86_64 only  

Operating system

Platform Supported versions
Microsoft Windows Server
  • 2025 (64-bit)
  • 2022 (64-bit)
  • 2019 (64-bit)
  • 2016 (64-bit)

FIPS 140-2 mode is supported on Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server 2022 only.

Microsoft Windows

  • 11 (64-bit)
  • 10 (64-bit)

Supported Windows desktop operating systems are reserved for trial installations only. For production environments, install a supported Windows Server operating system on your WHD server.

Operating system languages English (UK or US)
Red Hat® Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
  • 10 (64-bit)
  • 9 (64-bit)
CentOS™
  • 10 (64-bit)
  • 9 (64-bit)
Fedora
  • 41 (64-bit)
  • 40 (64-bit)
  • 39 (64-bit)

Fedora is classified as Community Supported and is not recommended for production deployments.
macOS
  • 15, Sequoia
  • 14, Sonoma
  • 13, Ventura

  • macOS 12 (Monterey) has reached end-of-life and is no longer supported. macOS 13 or higher is required.

Java

JAVA_HOME must point to a JDK 21 installation.

Configuring the JVM

If you have more than 20 technicians, you might need to increase the max heap memory on the JVM. To do so, edit the configuration for your platform. The backend JVM starts with -Xms256m and -Xmx1024m by default.

How you edit the configuration depends on the operating system: 

  • Linux: Edit ExecStart in the whd-backend.service systemd unit.

  • macOS: Edit EnvironmentVariables in the com.solarwinds.whd.backend.plist launchd plist.

  • Windows: Edit C:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\run-backend-with-env.bat

Database requirements

Web Help Desk uses an embedded PostgreSQL database as its standard database. Optionally, you can use a separate database. The following databases are supported.

Database Supported versions
PostgreSQL

Bundled: 13.20

External:

  • 17.x
  • 16.x (recommended for new deployments)
  • 15.x
  • 14.x
  • 13.x
MySQL
  • 8.4 LTS (recommended for new deployments)
  • 8.0
Microsoft SQL Server
  • 2022 (recommended for new deployments)
  • 2019
  • 2017

External database server requirements

If you do not use the bundled PostgreSQL database, the server on which the external database runs must meet the following requirements.

For optimal performance, run WHD and the external database on separate servers.

Component Minimum Recommended
CPU speed 64-bit x86_64, dual-core, 3.0 GHz or better Quad-core 3.0 GHz
Hard drive space 20 GB 50 GB+ SSD/NVMe
Memory 3 GB plus 1 GB for every additional 10 techs 8 GB+

Web browser

Browser Supported versions
Google Chrome Latest version
Mozilla Firefox Latest version
Microsoft Edge Latest version (Chromium-based)
Apple Safari

Safari 16 and later

Internet Explorer is not supported.

Authentication and directory requirements

LDAP and Active Directory

Product Supported versions
Microsoft Active Directory
  • 2025
  • 2022
  • 2019
  • 2016
OpenLDAP
  • 2.4 and later (including 2.6.x)
Open Directory

  • 4+

Single sign-on (SSO)

Protocol Notes
SAML 2.0

SP-initiated and IdP-initiated

Tested with Entra ID (Azure AD), Okta, and ADFS
OAuth 2.0 / OIDC

Authorization Code with PKCE

Tested with Entra ID and Okta
CAS

Central Authentication Service

Configurable through conf/application.properties

Mail server requirements

Software

Mail server or service Supported versions
Microsoft 365 (Office 365)

  • IMAP / SMTP with OAuth 2.0 Modern Auth
Google Workspace (Gmail)

  • IMAP / SMTP with OAuth 2.0
Any standards-compliant server
  • IMAP
  • SMTP

Supported protocols

  • IMAP / IMAPS
  • SMTP (STARTLS / SSL / TLS)

FIPS 140-2 requirements

FIPS mode is optional and disabled by default. FIPS mode is supported on Windows Server only.

Requirement Details
Operating system
  • Windows Server 2022 (64-bit)
  • Windows Server 2019 (64-bit)
OS FIPS policy FipsAlgorithmPolicy registry key must be set to 1
Preparation script

  1. Run the following in a Command Prompt as an administrator:

    conf\disable-non-fips-ciphers.ps1

  2. Reboot.
Node.js Bundled Node.js 22 compiled with OpenSSL FIPS support
Database External PostgreSQL with SSL enabled, or bundled PostgreSQL with SSL

To enable FIPS, see Enabling FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography.

JVM FIPS flags injected automatically on startup:

-Djavax.net.ssl.keyStoreProvider=BCFIPS
-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStoreProvider=BCFIPS
-Dwhd.fips.aes.keystore.password=changeit
-Dwhd.fips.aes.keystore.type=BCFKS
-Dwhd.fips.enabled=true
-Dwhd.fips.aes.keystore=%WHD_HOME%\conf\cacerts.BCFKS

Discovery connector requirements

The following table lists the supported discovery connectors used for asset discovery.

Connector Supported version
Network Performance Monitor (NPM) 2021.2 and later
Server and Application Monitor (SAM) 2020.4 and later
Network Configuration Manager (NCM) 2020.4 and later
Lansweeper 10.x and later
Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM/MECM) SCCM 1511+ / MECM (64-bit)
WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) Built-in. No additional software required.

SolarWinds product integration requirements

The following table lists the SolarWinds products that integrate with Web Help Desk.

Product Supported version
SolarWinds Platform 2020.2 and later
Network Performance Monitor (NPM) 2019.4 and later
Server and Application Monitor (SAM) 2019.4 and later
Network Configuration Manager (NCM) 2019.4 and later

Supported protocols

Category Protocols
Email (inbound) IMAP
Email (outbound) SMTP (STARTTLS / SSL/TLS)
Web / TLS TLS 1.2, TLS 1.3 (via Caddy 2)
SSO SAML 2.0, OAuth 2.0 / OIDC
Directory LDAP, LDAPS
Database PostgreSQL wire protocol, MySQL protocol, TDS (SQL Server)

Port requirements

Web Help Desk provides communication ports for the following resources: 

Web Help Desk interfaces

Port Type Description
8080 TCP

HTTP traffic. By default, redirected automatically to HTTPS. To serve over HTTP without redirect, set WHD_HTTP_IMPORT=http-serve.caddy in conf/whd.env.
8081 TCP Internal only. Spring Boot backend API port. This port is bound to 127.0.0.1 (localhost only) and is not accessible from external browsers. All user traffic reaches the backend through the Caddy reverse proxy on the HTTPS port (default: 8443). Do not open this port in your firewall for external access.
8443 TCP HTTPS port for Caddyfile built-in fallback and macOS default install. The macOS launchd plist sets WHD_HTTPS_PORT=8443 by default. On Linux and Windows, conf/whd.env sets WHD_HTTPS_PORT=8443 for production. Serves all Web Help Desk traffic (tech, client, and admin interfaces). Change the production HTTPS port by editing WHD_HTTPS_PORT in conf/whd.env.
17778 TCP Communications from the SolarWinds Platform server, if integrated

Databases

Port Type Description
1433 TCP

Communications with a Microsoft SQL external database, including:

  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • Microsoft Systems Management Server
  • Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM)
  • SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
  • SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NCM)
  • SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor (SAM)
3306 TCP External MySQL database
5432 TCP Communication with an External PostgreSQL database
20293 TCP Communications with an embedded PostgreSQL database

Email

Port Type Description
25 TCP Traffic from the Web Help Desk server to your email server for automated email notifications
143 TCP Non-secure traffic with the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) mail server
993 TCP Secure traffic with the IMAP mail server
995 TCP Secure traffic with the mail server

LDAP and Active Directory

Port Type Description
389 TCP Traffic from the Web Help Desk server to a designated server (usually a domain controller) for use with the Directory Service tool (LDAP and Active Directory)
636 TCP Secure traffic from the Web Help Desk server to a designated server (usually a domain controller) for use with the Directory Service tool (LDAP and Active Directory)

Asset Discovery

Port Type Description
135 TCP Asset Discovery using WMI (WMI calls uses port 135 and then chooses a random port for further communication)
3306 TCP  Communication with the MySQL external database, LANrev, and Casper 8 and lower
4445 TCP Remote log server reader
5433 TCP

Communication with Apple Remote 3.2 for asset discovery

Firewall port requirements for data traffic

Firewalls between any two points of communication must have the requisite ports open to inbound or outbound traffic according to the relative direction of the communication traffic.

Security recommendation: Only ports 8443 and 8080 should be open at the firewall. All internal ports (8081, 3000, 20293) should be bound to 127.0.0.1 in production. Open 5432 only when using an external PostgreSQL server.

Port configuration

Port Service Notes
8443 HTTPS (Caddy) Primary browser access
8080 HTTP redirect (Caddy) Redirects to HTTPS
8081 Backend API Internal only (Spring Boot)
3000 Frontend UI Internal only (Next.js)
20293 PostgreSQL Internal only (bundled database)
Only port 8443 needs to be accessible from client machines. Ports 8081, 3000, and 20293 are bound to 127.0.0.1 and should not be exposed externally. HTTP listener (WHD_HTTP_PORT) not functional in WHD2026.2.1.

All ports are configurable in conf/whd.env:

  • WHD_HTTPS_PORT=8443

  • WHD_HTTP_PORT=8080

  • WHD_BACKEND_PORT=8081

  • WHD_FRONTEND_PORT=3000

  • WHD_DB_PORT=20293