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Can I run PPT2HTMLBatch on my server?
We recommend that you run PPT2HTMLBatch on a computer that has access to server resources rather than running it on the server itself.
PPT2HTMLBatch automates PowerPoint. Microsoft recommends against server-side Office Automation and doesn't support it. This limits the support we can offer for server-side use of PPT2HTMLBatch.
For a detailed technical paper on the subject, see MSKB 257757 Considerations for Server-Side Automation of Office
Highlights:
"Microsoft does not currently recommend, and does not support, Automation of Microsoft Office Applications from any unattended, non-interactive client application or component (including ASP, DCOM, and NT Services), because Office may exhibit unstable behavior and/or deadlock when run in this environment."
The paper lists several major categories of problems, including:
- User Identity -- Office apps assume a user profile, but none may be present when run on a server
- Interactivity with the desktop -- PowerPoint cannot be run invisibly, for example, and all of the Office apps expect to be able to interact with the user if problems arise. Can be coded around to some extent, but not completely. In short, PowerPoint sometimes pops up modal dialog boxes or message boxes and waits for user input. There's nothing we can do to prevent this.
- Reentrancy and Scalability -- server apps need to be re-entrant, multi-threaded and non-resource-intensive. Office apps are the exact opposite and in fact PowerPoint is strictly a single-instance application. You simply cannot have multiple instances running.
- Stability -- MS themselves say "Using Office as a service component on a network server may reduce the stability of that machine, and as a consequence your network as a whole."
- Security -- Office apps were not written for server-side use so they have no provisions for the kind of security a server-based application needs. Again, we'll defer to MS: "Based on the security settings that were last set, the server can run macros under an Administrator or System context with full privileges and compromise your network!"
Then there are the licensing issues, about which MS says:
"Besides the technical problems, you must also consider the feasibility of such a design with respect to licensing. Current licensing guidelines prevent Office Applications from being used on server to service client requests, unless those clients themselves have licensed copies of Office. Using server-side Automation to provide Office functionality to unlicensed workstations isnot covered by the End User License Agreement (EULA)."
But having said that ...
PPT2HTMLBatch queues up lists of files for processing and won't attempt to launch another batch while one batch is running. So it sidesteps a number of the problems MS mentions.
In fact, we do have several customers running PPT2HTMLBatch quite successfully on servers. It sometimes takes a few extra steps to get it installed and working, but it's not a major undertaking.
Still, we cannot guarantee that it will function fully in all server environments. We strongly encourage you to try out the free, fully functional demo in your computing environment before deciding to purchase PPT2HTML Batch.
You can download a free demo version here
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