Is port 4444 really needed for full-text search?

[Jacob_Morrison]

According to the full-text MRG, "Any communication with the Application Server for Full-Text Search is performed over HTTP/S,
using port 4444 by default. Ensure that this port can be used for communication."  However, the slides from the CommunityLive 2019 presentation on Full-Text Search state, "The Application Server is used to perform the search and render documents retrieved from Full-Text. It does not connect to Hyland Full-Text Server at any time.  Likewise, the Hyland Full-Text Server is used only to index documents into the Catalogs, it does not connect to an Application Server at any time."

Is port 4444 actually needed?  If so, what is it used for and what connects to it?

[Juan_Trevino]

Following.  In our recently upgraded EP3 Sandbox environment I opened up port 4444 despite the MRG really stating if the port should be inbound/outbound/both.  But in the other non-prod environments I did not take this action.  I am not noticing a difference in what is being cataloged or retrieved.  So I am there with you questioning if actually needed or not.

[Laura_McDowell2]

Can someone from Hyland weigh in on this? @Adam Shane @Mike Walkuski 

The documentation is not very clear, and it sounds like user experience is such that it's not actually needed. What communication is done over this port?

[Mike_Walkuski · Accepted solution]

Hello Everyone,

There is no port 4444 requirement in the current iteration of the Full Text server that was released to the public. This was an initial requirement while the new Full Text was being developed, but is not needed in the released product.

The Application Server performs all the necessary searching and highlighting on it's own, separate from the Full Text Server Service using UNC.

The Full Text Server also functions completely separate from the Application Server and connects to the DB/Disk Groups directly and updates the catalogs on its own.

I submitted a request to get this removed from the documentation moving forward.