VMWare and FT Activation

Hey all,
I installed VMware as only got a Win7 machine and everything is great, multiple images of FTView 5.1, 6.0, 6.1 for different jobs.
Now, I'm into day 2 of my 7 day activation as I cannot get the manager to talk to my host Win7 machine.

I checked out the forums and the almighty Google but the most I found was Ken saying to set local host as the server.

What I have now is
Win7 - Activation server running with all the activations from the 'ChannelSW Automation Toolkit'.
VMware XP SP3 (all software runs nicely). First path is wmware-host. 2nd path is std rockwell stuff (deactivated).

What changes do I need to do.
help me O'B Ken... you're my only hope (guarenteed response from a SW quote).

Also I get about 15 RnaAlarmDetector.exe in my processes on task manager at 12MB size each. Anyone know why? I don't remember seeing more than 1 on my old std XP pro machine.

Cheers guys and gals

Update.
I changed the network from NAT to host only and I selected both the vmware-host and the std AB one. Now the available activations are getting populated. Its VERY slow as in 20 mins to populate the available ones.

Did a restart of the XP VM and down to 10 RnaAlarmDetector.exe, all around 12MB each and none of them taking any CPU time. RnaAlarmMux.exe has taken 1 second of CPU time in 30 mins. Its jumps to 2% CPU every so often.

I take it, I wait until everything is fully populated, then never shut down the VM, just suspend it.

I think the easiest way to make this reliable is to set up a "host only" private network between your VM's and your host. Then you will be using the activation server just like it was designed to be used. Your hose will be your activation server and your VM's the clients.

You need to access the virtual network editor dialog and verify the network settings. Then you will be adding a NIC to each VM that sits on the "host only" network.

I am pressed for time, I apologize for not giving more detailed instructions.

I will check back later and see if you need more info or maybe someone else can give better detail.

This works, I have done it this way.

RSL

Sounds like you are close.

I do not think you need the path to the standard local location for licenses if no licenses are hosted in your VM. You should probably only have the remote server on your host listed in the FTA software.

I am not sure why it would be slow to update your available licenses in FTA? I would pay more attention to how it behaves when you launch RA software and it "borrows" a license from your host. That process should not be slow at all.

Good luck

RSL

I use the private network method with my Toolkit Activation.

My VMWare XP virtual machine has two NIC cards:

The first Network Adapter is "Bridged: Connected directly to the physical network", with the "Replicate physical network connection state" checked.

The second Network Adapter is a "Host Only: A private network shared with the host" network.

Inside the VM, the second network appears as "Private LAN with Win7 Host", with IP address 169.254.248.203, with subnet mask 255.255.0.0, and no Gateway.

On the host PC, the second negtwork appears as VMWare Network Adapter VMnet1, with Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address 169.254.12.236, subnet mask 255.255.0.0, and no Gateway.

The first network is what I use for my normal communications to PLCs attached to my local network. It works just like I had two PCs literally on my desktop; my host is connected to my internal servers and the Internet with DHCP, but the VMWare XP box is running a static 192.168.2.x network just for the controllers in the shop. The status of this network link goes up and down based on the physical state of being plugged in or not.

The second network never disconnects; anytime the VM is live, that network is live.

In the FactoryTalk Activation Manager, I have added the host as an activation server just by IP address: 169.254.12.236. Only that server's entry is checked.

This has been nearly flawless, to the point where I had to open up all the VMware windows and settings this morning to figure out how I'd done it; I've been running for six months without touching it.

What Ken is describing (better than I did) is the method I have used in the past. I never had issues with it either.

RSL

Awesome, I'll try them out and let you all know how it goes

I created a second network adapter with host only and no luck.

Regarding the vmware-host in the path to activations, this was created by going to the VMWare settings-options-shared folders and creating a new share to the public documents of WIn7 which has the activation server documents in it.
Is this correct?

I couldn't get it working the other way. I rehosted on the WIn7 to the network card instead of the hard drive and set the MAC address on the VM to the same as the Win7 machine. I then copied the activation files onto the VM and it works.

Ah, I went through this just today.... I wish I'd seen your post sooner.

In the Guest VM you have to point to the Activation Server on the Host by entering the actual private IP address of the Host. Don't browse for any folder or computer name.

OK, I'll try that. I didn't think you could actually enter values into that field, just browse the network.. I have been wrong before.. and this looks like #2.