Virus protection, firewalls, and performance

For optimal performance, avoid running any software other than that required by Speech Suite.

If you must run utilities or third-party software, take steps to minimize the impact:

  • Avoid operations on the Speech Suite installation directories and the file paths used by Speech Suite programs and data files (such as DLM and JSON files). For example, on Windows servers, the EFS (Encrypting File System) should exclude all Nuance files or files used by Nuance products. For details on paths to be avoided, see Install paths and environment variables.
  • Limit or disable continuous or real-time scanning.
  • Schedule scans for periods of low system load.
  • Avoid settings that might limit runtime access to files by Speech Suite programs. This includes access to data files found under NUANCE_DATA_DIR.

Sizing

When sizing your Speech Suite system, you must include the costs of operating system utilities and any third-party software resources running on your hosts (such as anti-virus software, backup utilities, and disk defragmenters). The load on CPU, memory, network, and disk I/O from such software can adversely affect Speech Suite performance.

Firewall considerations

  • Firewalls must allow access to any ports needed by Speech Suite, including dynamically assigned ports. See Ports used by speech products. Also see watcher.RestrictedTCPPorts.
  • Firewalls must allow freedom to all Nuance services. For example, on a distributed system with a remote, firewalled host running the license server, ensure the lmgrd and swilmgrd services can enable remote license server connections.

  • Consider isolating your Speech Suite hosts from your corporate LAN. For example, put the hosts on a separate subnet and only allow restricted VPN or remote access from other subnet, IP addresses, or ports that are required for proper operations.