Why Does SystemLink Fail to Upload Large Files?

Issue Details

When I try to upload GB size files into SystemLink 2023 Q3 (23.5) or later, the upload attempts always fail.

Solution

The solution is to increase the body limit in the Apache configuration that SystemLink installs.  You can do this by adding a new *.conf file to the Apache configuration folder that SystemLink installs.

• First create a new file named 01_limitrequestbody.conf on your Windows Desktop with the following content:
  # Set the maximum file upload size in bytes
  LimitRequestBody 20000000000
• Next manually copy that 01_limitrequestbody.conf  file from your Windows Desktop to the following (default) Apache configuration folder:
  C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\Web Server\conf\conf.d\
• Finally restart the NI Web Server, and it should now accept file uploads for files up to 20 GB in size.

Additional Information

SystemLink 2023 Q3 (23.5) upgraded the Apache version it installs from 2.4.51 to 2.4.57.  It turns out that, starting with 2.4.54, Apache added a default body limit for http(s) requests of 1GB.  All previous versions of Apache had no such body limit.

Apache 2.4.54 and later versions will automatic upload large files in reasonably sized chunks, so you just have to get past the maximum body size limit, then all large files should upload without hiccups.