RSLogix as a Virtual App.

Anyone ever try to sequence RSLogix or know if it can be sequenced and run as a virtual application?

Huh?!

harryting said:

Huh?!

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If you're curious what he's talking about, see here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc817128.aspx

I don't know if it can/has been done. I've never tried.

Just use vm ware or virtual box and get the same end result.

The results would not even be somewhat similar to vmware. I already have a HyperV server. The point is the ability to use the program on any pc you want and use local or remote comm ports with the ability to have them available as physically existing. Ever try to use a PIC from a VM? The software would never even be installed onto your computer. The file system and hive settings would only be masked over your current files and hive. This would give you the potential to run rslogix from anywhere on almost any pc without ever having to install it.

Well, unless AB/Rockwell/Whatever you want to call them decided to use some pretty bizarre way of communicating with the serial ports, or other systems (which I doubt) it may well be possible to do that. I think the only way to find out would be to actually try it and see if everything works properly.

From my understanding, when you sequence something as a virtual app, the virtualization stuff tries to figure out what sort of actions the program can do (what it wants to communicate with, etc. etc. etc.) and makes those things available to it as though they physically existed, right? If that's the case, unless RSLogix does something that confuses that system (Which I find rather unlikely, unless the integration with RSLinx would pose a problem), it should work fine.

I believe that sequencing a program as a virtual app defines a limited virtual environment for the app to run in that doesn't have all of the things you would find in an OS to support a wider variety of applications. You end up with a VM with a very lean OS tailored for running a single app, and that is a problem for RSLogix because RSLogix doesn't stand alone as a single app for anything except offline programming. I could be up in the night, but thats how I understand the purpose of virtual apps.

The virtual app still is hosted on a full blown OS so overall performance gains are moot - although you could get significant stability gains for applications that don't play well in the same sandbox with certain other applications and the lean VM itself will perform better than a heavy VM, but its still has to eventually run everything through the heavy host OS.

When I use RSLogix I am also typically running RSLinx, RSView, ACADE, Adobe Acrobat, LLSolver, Firefox, Excel, Crimson, etc. all at the same time. If I were to run RSLoigx in a virtual environment while at the same time running all the other apps in the host then I would encounter information sharing hassles and even a simple cut and paste would become a hassle. So while I can see a good reason to set up a virtual machine with a heavy OS to support all the needed apps together (I use an XP VM on my Vista laptop) I'm not sure I see a good reason to run just Logix as a VA.

This would give you the potential to run rslogix from anywhere on almost any pc without ever having to install it


As alaric said rslogix alone would not make sense so install linx and other neded apps to a vm and if you want portability use thinapp http://www.vmware.com/products/thinapp/ or ceedo http://www.ceedo.com/

I have logix 5,500,5000,linx all on a thumb drive and use it everyday.

It was just a question. If it looks like it might be a possibility I'll give it a go when I get snowed in. I like challenges and it also potentially offers a learning experience. On the flip side, it also isn't worth wasting time on something you know won't work and the only thing learned is that someone else was right. I'm not a Rockwell expert but there are quite a few here that are so I thought maybe they might know of some limitations. The biggest challenge will be RSlinx. Is there any way to access an Rslinx gateway from RSlogix without having another copy of rslinx gateway installed?

I'm well aware of VM's and there capabilities and limitations. I run most of mine on core installs of hyper-v server. The idea here is the unique abilities offered by virtual apps. The virtual apps still use native services on the host os as well as direct access to physical hardware. The app is just isolated in its own run time environment.