VersaWorks and Virtual Machines

[DravidDavid]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone has had any success running VersaWorks in a virtual machine? I've got four printers I want users to operate remotely in order to keep ripping files for print separate to the production workflow.

Users would remote in to each VM with an instance of VersaWorks configured to operate the corresponding printer that they work with.
Am I dreaming? I've got a funny feeling I am. The dongles for the printers springs immediately to mind as an issue.

Cheers!

 

[Ragnabrok]

i cant see why not, outside of making the networking more difficult. It runs on parallels on a mac, that's more or less a VM.

 

[DravidDavid]

i cant see why not, outside of making the networking more difficult. It runs on parallels on a mac, that's more or less a VM.

I might give it a go then. I'm sure I can handle the networking part. I was just reading about how people run it in a VM on Macs. We have three Roland printers, which I could run off of a single VW instance. The problem is multiple may need to be manipulating the RIP queue at the same time. This means I'll need multiple instances of VW and multiple servers are expensive.

I'd rather have one kick-*** server than 3 budget ones taking up rack space.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I might give it a go then. I'm sure I can handle the networking part. I was just reading about how people run it in a VM on Macs. We have three Roland printers, which I could run off of a single VW instance. The problem is multiple may need to be manipulating the RIP queue at the same time. This means I'll need multiple instances of VW and multiple servers are expensive.

I'd rather have one kick-*** server than 3 budget ones taking up rack space.

Are you running a VM directly off a server or are you running a VM off individual machines?

Does VW dongles allow for it to be connected through a network? I know my digitizing software does now, you can set it up in a network and run multiple instances that way. Costs more then a traditional license, but depending on the setup, it might be worth it.

Networking within a VM is not all that hard. At least using Linux as a host and I'm able to deny a traditional network connection (so no internet access on my Win VMs). I don't run Macs (even the one iMac hardware that I have only runs elementaryOS), I would assume that it would be relatively simple as well. The question is, if the VW dongle can handle being contacted via a network.

 

[DravidDavid]

Are you running a VM directly off a server or are you running a VM off individual machines?

Does VW dongles allow for it to be connected through a network? I know my digitizing software does now, you can set it up in a network and run multiple instances that way. Costs more then a traditional license, but depending on the setup, it might be worth it.

Networking within a VM is not all that hard. At least using Linux as a host and I'm able to deny a traditional network connection (so no internet access on my Win VMs). I don't run Macs (even the one iMac hardware that I have only runs elementaryOS), I would assume that it would be relatively simple as well. The question is, if the VW dongle can handle being contacted via a network.

I'll be running a single machine with multiple VMs to host the instances of VersaWorks. Not sure what the dongles are and are not capable of doing, hence my concern. I can always test it from my test bench with one of the dongles. If it works, I'll set up something more permanent.

When I have the time I'll sort it out and log my success (hopefully) for future reference. I was kinda hoping someone would pop up and say something like, "Yea I run 10 VMs with VersaWorks and it runs sweet!" Haha.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I'll be running a single machine with multiple VMs to host the instances of VersaWorks. Not sure what the dongles are and are not capable of doing, hence my concern. I can always test it from my test bench with one of the dongles. If it works, I'll set up something more permanent.

Multiple instances on one computer. Ok.


What is in bold, am I take that as you have multiple dongles? If so, then I could only imagine that it's a matter of passing through one dongle (USB passthrough) to each of the VMs. So essentially, only one dongle per VM, even though it's multiple instances on one computer. Just make sure to pass through the correct dongle to the correct VM, if they are linked by serial numbers. If it's not that sophisticated of a tie in, then may not have to worry about that.

That should work, if I'm understanding everything correctly.