This chapter describes the usage of the PROMOTIC system in virtual computers. What is a virtual computer? Usually it is a system where there are multiple (independent) instances of a operating systems running on a single server (hardware) that appear as independent hardware platforms (while this is physicaly still a single server).
Virtual computers then allow to separate individual systems/applications in order to prevent them from influencing each other and to protect the operating system of the physical computer (server) itself.
For this purpose, there are multiple virtualization tools available: for example
Microsoft Virtual PC,
VirtualBox by the
Oracle company, or
VMware. Some of these tools must be installed on the host system (
HOST). In the virtual computer environment, it is possible to install additional hosted operating systems (
GUEST).
Specificity of operating the PROMOTIC system in virtual environments
The PROMOTIC system is very often used for data acquisition from different subordinate systems connected to the computer via Ethernet or via the computer's serial port (
RS232/485). The PROMOTIC application usually needs a licence to run, see
PROMOTIC licence carrier types. It it is necessary to understand that the
GUEST systems usually have limited access to the physical devices of the computer (network card,
USB,
COM ports) and therefore the access for example to serial or USB ports of the computer may be limited or denied.
The Possibility to make these physical devices available for
HOST on a virtual computer is dependant on the virtualisation tool that is being used. Some tools cannot allow usage of USB and in such cases it is necessary to consider different ways of the PROMOTIC system licencing, for example the
PmLicServer.
If the USB HW Key or serial port can be used on a virtual computer, then it is necessary to understand that using these on a virtual computer means that this hardware will not be available for
HOST computer or even for another virtual computers running on the same physical computer. It means that the physical hardware can be dedicated only for a single computer (physical or virtual) simultaneously.
Let the virtual computer have access to the
HW Key in
USB permanently. This can be achieved by software means (accesing the USB on physical
HOST of the computer as USB on a virtual computer
GUEST) or by means of another HW device that allows to operate virtual USB ports in the
Ethernet network.
Possible solutions of licencing the running application on a virtual computer.
For the method of licensing PROMOTIC application on a virtual computer, with access via the
RDP protocol - see
PROMOTIC system and Windows remote desktop (RDP).