Is it possible to rename the pdmweb.exe so that it does not use the .exe extension?

Products

CA IT Asset Manager CA Software Asset Manager (CA SAM) ASSET PORTFOLIO MGMT- SERVER SUPPORT AUTOMATION- SERVER CA Service Desk Manager - Unified Self Service CA Service Desk Manager CA Service Management - Asset Portfolio Management CA Service Management - Service Desk Manager

Issue/Introduction

Is it possible to rename pdmweb.exe that is included in the web interface URL so that it does not use the .exe extension?

Environment

Service Desk Manager: 17.x

Resolution

If your local security policy does not allow the use of the .exe extension in the URL used to access the Service Desk web interface, you may be able to take steps that allow you to use an alternative name for pdmweb.exe or to use it without the .exe extension.

Let's assume you want to rename pdmweb.exe to servicedesk, for example, to avoid using the .exe extension. This is currently unsupported by CA Support, and so, any attempt to follow the potential solution as per the steps provided below is at your own risk.

If IIS is the default web server, please see the "Additional Information" section below.

If Tomcat is being used as the default web server, the potential solution is to perform the following steps:

Log into Service Desk as a user with the Administrator access type and click the Administration tab.
Click the Notifications option from within the Options Manager folder and select web_cgi_url for editing.
Change the pdmweb.exe text string to servicedesk so that the option value goes

from:
http://<servername>:8080/CAisd/pdmweb.exe

to:
http://<servername>:8080/CAisd/servicedesk
Shutdown Service Desk.
Edit the file $NX_ROOT\bopcfg\www\web.cfg and change the 'Cgi pdmweb.exe' text entry

from:
Cgi pdmweb.exe

to:
Cgi servicedesk
Edit the file $NX_ROOT\bopcfg\www\CATALINA_BASE\webapps\ROOT\index.jsp. Change every occurrence of the text, pdmweb.exe, to servicedesk, and then save the file. There are 2 places where the change needs to be made. After you've made the changes, the file should contain these lines:
```
<% response.sendRedirect("CAisd/servicedesk"); %><HTML><BODY><BR><A href="axis" >Axis<BR><A href="CAisd/servicedesk" >Service Desk</TABLE></BODY></HTML>
```
Edit $NX_ROOT\bopcfg\www\CATALINA_BASE\webapps\CAisd\WEB-INF\web.xml. Change every occurrence of the text, pdmweb.exe, to servicedesk and then save the file. There are 2 places where the change needs to be made. After you've made the changes, the file should contain these lines:
```
<init-param><param-name>web:local</param-name><param-value>servicedesk</param-value></init-param><servlet-mapping><servlet-name>pdmweb</servlet-name><url-pattern>/servicedesk</url-pattern></servlet-mapping>
```
Rename the pdmweb.exe file that exists in the $NX_ROOT\bopcfg\www\wwwroot\ directory to servicedesk. This is the final change that is required.
If you want to change the Service Desk shortcut on the servers you can do this by changing the $NX_ROOT\bin\web shortcut and the $NX_ROOT\bin\web.url.tpl file. The web shortcut's pdmweb.exe text value can be found by right-clicking the shortcut, selecting properties and then clicking on the web document tab. The web.url.tpl is a plain text file that contains a pdmweb.exe entry. The entry can be changed by editing the file.
Restart Service Desk and test your amended URL by accessing Service Desk through the web browser as follows:

http://<servername>:8080/CAisd/servicedesk

NOTE: Please bear in mind that if you subsequently run the Service Desk configure tool, the tool resets the $NX_ROOT\bopcfg\www\CATALINA_BASE\webapps\CAisd\WEB-INF\web.xml file and $NX_ROOT\bin\web shortcut back to using pdmweb.exe. So, after using the configure tool, you need to follow the steps above again in order to continue using 'servicedesk' in place of 'pdmweb.exe'. As well, when you install any patches that include files that you have changed outside of $NX_ROOT\site\mods, then your changed files are replaced.

Additional Information

If your web server is IIS, you may want to review and follow this article as an alternative:

Accessing ServiceDesk URL with Server Hostname by hiding CAisd/pdmweb.exe
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?articleId=53578

Alternatively, you could consider switching to Tomcat as the default web server.