Virtual Machines With PLC Software

Buxykay

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Join Date
Jun 2020
Location
Houston
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2
Hi everyone,
I am a starter with PLC programming and HMI. Allen bradley to be specific. I have RSLogix Micro, Studio 5000 and Factorytalk View installed on my desk top. I would like to install Wonderware. My question is: Do I have to install a virtual machine or not?



Thanks.
 
Do I have to install a virtual machine or not?
Technically speaking, no you do not, but I recommend it.

Personally, I keep software from Siemens, Rockwell, Wonderware, etc. on separate virtual machines to prevent any sort of incompatibilities that might arise, and to not have to have the services from all the software running at the same time... it's not often where I would need to run FT View AND Wonderware, for example. I also like keeping my host machine "clean". And if I ever had to reinstall a VM, I just delete it and do it again. It's easier than trying to completely uninstall from a host machine.
 
Technically speaking

+1

Now that I do very little traveling I am able to have several laptops setup and just grab the one I need, I have found issues when running them on one OS, I have just about every PLC programming software made and they do clash from time to time.

I also do not let them update, I would only let the host update but not my VM's (if possible) or know when its updating and run your software after it updates not when your sitting at a customers trying to use it and Windows is broken because of a update.
 
Technically speaking, no you do not, but I recommend it.

Personally, I keep software from Siemens, Rockwell, Wonderware, etc. on separate virtual machines to prevent any sort of incompatibilities that might arise, and to not have to have the services from all the software running at the same time... it's not often where I would need to run FT View AND Wonderware, for example. I also like keeping my host machine "clean". And if I ever had to reinstall a VM, I just delete it and do it again. It's easier than trying to completely uninstall from a host machine.
Thank you so much.
 
I keep software VM's separate like sigmadelta does.


When I have a VM setup and running right I close it and archive a copy on my NAS. That way if I ever have something crash in the future I just copy back the archive & I am back up & running.


EDIT: If I am on the road I have all the archives on a 2T USB hard drive with my main laptop.
 
If you get into doing a lot of WW definitely go VMs. Because WW can only have one version on a machine, and it can be a pain to change versions with compatibility with the drivers and patches etc. I keep a separate VM for each version.
 
Could someone share with me any good articles to read so I can get a better understanding of how this works, I've been reading about this, but haven't had the need to utilize it at work, but may seem useful in the future. Do they have free VM software to download? Thanks,
 
I use VMWare Workstation Pro. It's only $250 and works great. I can open multiple machines on three separate monitors. Then I have setup a virtual network that connects them all, even if I don't have a network connected. It's also been great for testing new versions of server and Windows. I even have a couple of Linux machines for test web apps.


Not sure if a new software is going to hose your machine, just take a snapshot and if it does, revert back and it's back to exactly where you took the snapshot. That feature has been a big lifesaver, especially with Rockwell fatware.


I also bought several Windows 10 LTSC licenses ($4 each on eBay). They are great machines because you can test everything Windows 10 without all the bloat that comes with the regular version. You can also turn off the automatic update. Whole virtual machine (Empty install) only takes about 21G of drive space. One also makes a great Rockwell license server. Other machines just borrow the license on the virtual network.
 
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Just be aware that free versions aren't always free.

VMware Player is free for non-commercial use. If you are doing work on it, then you are expected to pay for it.

VirtualBox is also "free", but if you install the Extension Pack then it is also only for non-commercial use. And they make it frustratingly difficult to purchase a license to be compliant.

I also use VMware Workstation Pro. My work purchased my copy and I have my own copy on my home PC.

OG
 
VirtualBox is also "free", but if you install the Extension Pack then it is also only for non-commercial use. And they make it frustratingly difficult to purchase a license to be compliant.


I've used virtualbox for over 12 years and at one time tried to purchase licenses. I was told that unless I wanted to buy "hundreds" of them to **** off.



I've used both vmware workstation pro and virtualbox and I can't justify choosing VMware over virtualbox. I'm about to set up new windows 10 VMs for RSLogix and have decided to use virtualbox.
 
This topic comes up every so often. I wish we have a wiki feature on this site.

What's the best practice for network adopter setting? NAT, bridge? With having to change IP from system to system in mind.
 
Another problem with free software I am coming across with some customers is if they have an IT certification (similar to QS9001, ISO9001, IATF, ITAQR, etc) they prohibit the use of free software on the network.

No more free TemViewer, VNC Server, VMWare Player, etc. Not even free video player (VNC), compression (7-Zip), photo (IrfanView), print to PDF (CutePDF), sniffer (WireShark) - they have to buy licensed versions.

And the software just listed is my "standard" to install on every PC HMI I make, now I have to start buying them if the customer is certified suchly.
 
That was the problem I had with VirtualBox. I needed to be able to document all software on our team of 60 people and provide licenses when asked. VirtualBox just wouldn't provide me a means to buy a small number of licenses. VMware Player on the other hand has an option to purchase for commercial use. We just added that in to the cost of any new PC.

I would have been fine with VirtualBox. I've used it. It did what we needed. But because of the license agreement and their non-interest in getting paid, we couldn't use it. In the end, that was fine with me as I prefer VMware, but probably because I've used it forever.

OG
 

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