Engineering Software that Dislikes Virtual Machines?
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We have a large number of lasers in our manufacturing shops, and many times when we get a shiny new laser or some other machine we get new offline programming software. In the last couple of years, I have been making a large effort to virtualize all of these installations because it is extremely painful to transfer the program from one machine to another.
So, just last night, I was building a VM to use for this very purpose and came across something really interesting. The software itself runs fine in a VM and is supported. The install guide says it is fully supported. But, Engineering software normally comes with some kind of fun activation process like using a USB HASP, forcing the install of some type of license server, etc. In this specific case, there is a license manager application that has to be installed in order for you to use the software. Since this is a single workstation installation and will not grow past that, you can install everything on a single machine for simplicity, which is exactly what I did.
The install was successful, so it is now time to activate our shiny new software. But there's one glaring problem here when I went to enter the license activation key. I'm sure someone can tell me what it is.
So why support the installation on a virtual machine if I have to have a physical machine to run the license server? This makes no logical sense to me.
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Is the licensing server tied to a HASP key? If it is, that's probably why they recommend this. You'll have less issues with the HASP key in a physical machine than a virtual one (potentially).
Some people think that virtualized installs are done for mobility. If you install the license server on VM, then move the VM, the Key would have to move as well, defeating the simplicity of the VM. If you put the license server on a bar metal server, for example, you have less chances of moving it. Though, in this day and age, are HASP keys really the correct way to go about things?
Also, how likely is it that the vendor expects most installs to have more than one of end user side supported by a single HASP key?
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In the past we have had HASP keys that had to be plugged into the server / workstation, but in this case, all we got was an activation key (no piece of hardware to go with it). But overall, when faced with using a HASP key for this kind of software in conjunction with ESXi, passing the USB drive to the VM has worked beautifully for us.
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Have you talked to their support? Maybe this is a case they forgot to consider and don't realize that it is broken?
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There's a difference between 'not recommended' and 'not supported'. If they only recommend you don't use a VM, I'd probably ignore their recommendation and do it anyway.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
There's a difference between 'not recommended' and 'not supported'. If they only recommend you don't use a VM, I'd probably ignore their recommendation and do it anyway.
Agreed, recommendations mean effectively nothing. They would also recommend that you pay them more.
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Yeah. I remember seeing something like that before. It worked fine anyway. I Think it was the ArcGIS Activation Server.
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I went ahead and proceeded with activation despite the warning, and the software seems to function as expected for now. We'll see if that is also the case when the Engineer who needs to use it starts playing with it.
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@NetworkNerd said:
In the past we have had HASP keys that had to be plugged into the server / workstation, but in this case, all we got was an activation key (no piece of hardware to go with it). But overall, when faced with using a HASP key for this kind of software in conjunction with ESXi, passing the USB drive to the VM has worked beautifully for us.
If there is no hardware, then definitely just go for it - oh you already did.
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@NetworkNerd said:
The install was successful, so it is now time to activate our shiny new software. But there's one glaring problem here when I went to enter the license activation key. I'm sure someone can tell me
I've worked around an issue similar to this by using a USB > Ethernet adapter from Digi.
However, I didn't see what software you are using?
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@Bill-Kindle said:
@NetworkNerd said:
The install was successful, so it is now time to activate our shiny new software. But there's one glaring problem here when I went to enter the license activation key. I'm sure someone can tell me
I've worked around an issue similar to this by using a USB > Ethernet adapter from Digi.
However, I didn't see what software you are using?
It's Trutops Inch from Trumpf in this case.
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@NetworkNerd said:
@Bill-Kindle said:
@NetworkNerd said:
The install was successful, so it is now time to activate our shiny new software. But there's one glaring problem here when I went to enter the license activation key. I'm sure someone can tell me
I've worked around an issue similar to this by using a USB > Ethernet adapter from Digi.
However, I didn't see what software you are using?
It's Trutops Inch from Trumpf in this case.
I would ask them what part of virtualization do they not support. That's a really odd message.
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@NetworkNerd said:
It's Trutops Inch from Trumpf in this case.
I have that installed at a client (not in a VM granted) and do not recall a USB dongle being required. But the install was quite a bit ago. maybe I lost those brain cells.
The final install did happen with me on a remote connection and a conference call with the Trumpf support people. It is entirely possible the user plugged in a stick to license.
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@JaredBusch said:
@NetworkNerd said:
It's Trutops Inch from Trumpf in this case.
I have that installed at a client (not in a VM granted) and do not recall a USB dongle being required. But the install was quite a bit ago. maybe I lost those brain cells.
The final install did happen with me on a remote connection and a conference call with the Trumpf support people. It is entirely possible the user plugged in a stick to license.
In the past it has always been USB stick required, but in this particular case, we got a brand new laser from Trumpf and the software that goes with it. I was pretty surprised when there was no USB HASP to plug into the server since that has been the trend.
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@NetworkNerd said:
In the past it has always been USB stick required, but in this particular case, we got a brand new laser from Trumpf and the software that goes with it. I was pretty surprised when there was no USB HASP to plug into the server since that has been the trend.
A few memory cells reconnected! The new licensing requires live internet activation and deactivation.
Shortly after we installed TruTops, the HDD in the machine died and had to be replaced. I do not normally perform full backups of user computers because it is just as easy to reinstall Office 365 anymore (this client has no other special apps).
I did not think about TruTops at the time. After I reinstalled, I could not license it and TruTops had to work backend stuff and required a signed statement that we had a hard crash before they would release the license and let us relicense.
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@JaredBusch said:
@NetworkNerd said:
In the past it has always been USB stick required, but in this particular case, we got a brand new laser from Trumpf and the software that goes with it. I was pretty surprised when there was no USB HASP to plug into the server since that has been the trend.
A few memory cells reconnected! The new licensing requires live internet activation and deactivation.
Shortly after we installed TruTops, the HDD in the machine died and had to be replaced. I do not normally perform full backups of user computers because it is just as easy to reinstall Office 365 anymore (this client has no other special apps).
I did not think about TruTops at the time. After I reinstalled, I could not license it and TruTops had to work backend stuff and required a signed statement that we had a hard crash before they would release the license and let us relicense.
This is becoming more and more common - but I don't think the vendors using it are doing enough to educate the users of the importance of backups in these cases for recovery.
