Why is universal forwarder installation failing with error "Could not bind to port 8089" using the deployment server option hostname:port (8089)?

[brentgunn]

Installing universal forwarder is failing because it cannot bind to TCP 8089.

My understanding of TCP communications is this:
Client reaches out to destination server via a dynamic TCP Port to a destination TCP port which is static. (server is listening on static port 8089)

If that is accurate:
When installing the universal forwarder on a client and using the deployment server option hostname:port (8089), why is the install failing because a process already has the 8089 port in use (on the client).

If my understanding is correct, then the client shouldn't care if it already has a process listening on TCP 8089 because when it reaches out to the indexer hostname:8089 it will be sourcing from a dynamic tcp port.

Bottom line, I cannot get the universal forwarder because w3wp.exe is already using 8089 on my client and I cannot change it.

Thanks in advance for any help.

FROM SPLUNKD.LOG

06-16-2016 15:37:27.372 -0500 FATAL HTTPServer - Could not bind to port 8089

[ddrillic]

Something is weird here because the logging of the installation goes to /splunkforwarder/var/log/splunk/first_install.log and upgrades of the forwarder would go to migration.log.<date> and then when the product comes up the logging goes to splunkd.log.

When the installation is complete, the deployment server configuration is at /splunkforwarder/etc/system/local/deploymentclient.conf, which can be changed.

[ryanoconnor · Accepted solution]

You can always disable port 8089 if you don't intend to remotely manage the Universal Forwarder.

http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/6.4.1/admin/Serverconf

See the section for disableDefaultPort

[brentgunn]

Wow thanks for the prompt reply.
I saw that, but that is post install though.

It wont install because the server is using 8089.
I tried installing it with a different port for the distribution server but it didnt work.

Any ideas on how to install it with a different port or disabled?

[ryanoconnor]

Ah sorry about that! During the initial install you should be able to set a number of different parameters like SPLUNKD_PORT. Take a look at the following doc:

http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/6.4.1/Installation/InstallonWindowsviathecommandline

[brentgunn]

Sorry for the delay - i was able to use the install switch and use a different port on the source port side. Working great.
Thanks!