Activations

[bryan_cook]

I have an XP SP2 virtual machine (Virtual PC 2007) which I plan on doing development within.  I've successfully installed the Services Platform, View and Transaction Manager, (REVS 10).  However, whenever I attempt to install FactoryTalk Activation Client, the virtual machine goes black and is no longer bootable.

Any suggestions? 

[fordtt]

I'm assuming you've loaded your Rockwell software on the virtual machine.  But, typically, you need to install the FT Activation client first, then install the software.  Rockwell doesn't support it's software in the virtual environment but all their reps use it.  But then again, they have "god-mode" licensing too so activation really isn't an issue.  Try rebuilding your VM by loading the client first, then the application software.  Also, make sure your activation server is up and running as well since you can't node lock your activation to a virtual machine.

[bryan_cook]

fordtt, thanks for taking the time to respond.

If I remember correctly from my first go-round with this issue, I tried installing Activation first ... at which time, I ran into the same problem.  On my second go-round, I decided to try installing Activation last.

However, the more I think about it, the more I second guess myself.  At this point, I've moved on to just installing the software on a physical machine.  I will revisit this issue in the very near future, as I'll want to have a REVS 10 Virtual Machine in my collection.

I've actually had great success using virtual machines and Rockwell software in the past, although I was never using the new activation model.  REVS 10 is the first time I've ran into problems ...

Thanks again.

[fordtt]

No sweat.  If you have great success with VM's then please share your experiences.  I, too, have used virtual machines (VMware) with great success but loaded the activation server locally.  Actually, since it needed a serial number from a LAN card or hard drive, we used a wireless USB network card.  It had a serial number and when loaded in the VM, we just used the wireless network thumb as a dongle....seemed to work ok.

I think as for the activation stuff....every installation is different from what I'm seeing.  Everyone is having problems...just different problems.  As I stated in another post, Autocad uses the same FlexLM server for license admin and we have distributed licenses across the US and Canada to about 10,000 machines....no problems there.  Go figure....

[Tech 411]

It has come to my attention that, VM ware when the free version works poorly...Registered VM ware is purported to work, But I ripped VM ware out of our 6 laptops because it would not talk to the real world.

shrugs

[bryan_cook · Accepted solution]

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fordtt wrote:

No sweat.  If you have great success with VM's then please share your experiences.  I, too, have used virtual machines (VMware) with great success but loaded the activation server locally.  Actually, since it needed a serial number from a LAN card or hard drive, we used a wireless USB network card.  It had a serial number and when loaded in the VM, we just used the wireless network thumb as a dongle....seemed to work ok.

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I was taking the same approach.  I had Activation Server on my local machine and was attempting to install Activation Client on my virtual machine.  Unfortunately, the virtual machine was blowing up while attempting to install Activation Client ...

Fortunately, I found my problem.  If I opted out of installing the drivers for the dongle, Activation Client installed successfully.  Since I don't need my virtual machine to recognize the dongle, it seems as though this approach will work (for me at least).

I have yet to fully test the virtual machine, but I'll be sure to reply with any problems/issues if encountered.

[BitHead]

I use VMware v5.xxx with no issues. This is not the same as M$ Virtual Machine. Each VM is unique with regard to incompatibilities and issues.

None of the VMs like using direct hardware interfaces to real devices like serial, parallel or propriatary cards. The ethernet drivers work great and therefore allow you to run Linx Gateway on the host OS (real pc) and share the driver to the VM via TCP/IP. This allows you to use the VM for real world tasks but be aware that a strong knowledge of  TCP/IP networking is needed to avoid having connectivity headaches. I have no problems and my activation works fine.

All the RSI developers, training instructors, seminar pc’s, sales channel personnel, and specialist use VMware….it may not be “supported” but is highly utilized by internal RSI people.

bd

[Ken_Roach]

"If I opted out of installing the drivers for the dongle, Activation Client installed successfully."

Thank you for posting the solution to your problem !

That makes sense;  virtual machines usually have weak or no support for USB devices, so a hardware driver that isn't a common device like mass storage or network interface might be part of the problem.    

Definitely follow up with more information about success or problems.   This was Virtual PC 2007 on and XP host, right ?

[Ozzy]

The official 'we do not support virtualization' really comes from, if a bug shows up only on a virtualized environment, development is not going to look at it.

It also means if a support person, field guy, or whom ever does not know virtualization, they are not required to help you.

Pretty much, if you are in a production environment and doing this, you support it.

It does not mean it does not work.  But just as many people do not really know the virtual tools so are often the very questions that come up show it.

First M.S. Virtual PC has no where near the support VMware does.  It does a poor job of handling hardware calls to outside items.  Windows 7 is changing some of that, but until then, VPC is what Microsoft gives us.  

When installing the FactoryTalk Activation, DO NOT INSTALL DONGLE DRIVERS, when setting up fta, it is best to install the client on the VPCs and the server on the host machine, have the host machine serve out the licenses if they are concurrent.  For nodelocked, put it on whatever VPC or host will use it, again you can't use a dongle here, VPC does not have good support.  The server, for some reason tends to crash on Microsoft, Virtual PC.

For VMWare, similiar rules, but the dongle drivers tend not to crash out nor the server. It tends to function very well.  VMware prior to a year ago, did not have good USB support either, dongles seem to work just fine now.  But if you are going to use it with a nodelocked file, you can not one more then one session, the VMware's can conflict, and only one virtualized environment can have control of the USB port at a given time, use the same port to plug into.  Windows treats each port as a seperate entity instead of saying 'oh yeah, I know what this is'

Use the latest tool 3.02

[bryan_cook]

@Ken Roach Yes, Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 running a VHD of Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2.  My actual machine was running Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3.

I was able to get everything running correctly (including activations) with my virtual machine. 

Message Edited by bryan_cook on 10-16-2009 02:54 PM