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System requirements

PortWall for Windows needs Windows Server 2016 or later (64-bit) with IIS, an Administrator account, 2 GB of free disk and outbound HTTPS to dl.portwall.net and PortWall's licence service. The Linux appliance needs 4 GB of memory, 20 GB of disk, an address visitors can reach, a route to each site's server and outbound HTTPS.

PortWall for Windows

  • Operating system: Windows Server 2016 or later (64-bit).
  • Account: an Administrator account to install.
  • Web server: IIS (PortWall installs without it, but it is made to sit in front of IIS). Works with plain IIS, SolidCP and Plesk for Windows.
  • Disk: at least 2 GB of free disk space on the install drive.
  • Network: outbound HTTPS from the server to dl.portwall.net and PortWall's licence service. The installer checks your licence with the licence service and downloads the release from dl.portwall.net; updates are downloaded from dl.portwall.net too, so allow it if the server's outbound traffic is filtered.
  • A licence key. See How to buy PortWall and get your licence key.

PortWall uses the server's existing addresses. It installs a small loopback network adapter so it can reach IIS on a server with a single address; no second public address is needed.

The Linux appliance

  • Memory: 4 GB or more. Upload scanning keeps its virus signatures in memory.
  • Disk: 20 GB or more; the appliance uses all of the disk it is given.
  • CPU: the licence sets how many cores inspect traffic; give the machine at least that many. A machine with more cores than the licence is fine: the extra cores run the operating system and the console.
  • Network: an address visitors can reach, a route to each site's server, and outbound HTTPS (including to dl.portwall.net, where updates are downloaded from), to issue certificates and keep its data current.
  • Platforms: qcow2 (KVM, Proxmox), VMDK (VMware; AWS can import it), a Google Cloud image, and an installer ISO for physical servers or any other hypervisor. It starts with BIOS or UEFI, with Secure Boot on or off.

Sizing

Requirements are the minimum. What a server handles depends on its traffic: requests per second at peak, how much is HTTPS, request and upload sizes, and which features are on. For an appliance, the number of licensed cores is the main lever. Send [email protected] your expected peak traffic and number of sites for sizing advice.

Browsers for the console

The console is a web page: use a current version of Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari. On Windows it answers at http://127.0.0.1:5000 on the server, or published over TLS from the console; on the appliance at https://<appliance address>:9443.

Updated 2026-10-28Something unclear or missing? Tell us.