Using FlexNet in a virtual machine

[BakaNeko]

We are moving most (eventually all) of our servers to VMware virtual machines. Ultimately this will include the system I'm using to run FlexNet Manager. I have had no problem getting software based (hostid/MAC address) flexnet license daemons to run on a virtual machine (autoCAD, mathCAD, etc.) but have so far been unable to get hardware based (Sentinel USB, Aladdin HASP HL, etc.) to work.

Anyone have any experience with this? I'd appreciate any help you can provide.

[pauld_dotnet]

I'm in the middle of an enterprise-wide license centralization project. We're doing it on VMware too!

You will need some USB-over-Ethernet device servers. There are only a few brands available: the Lantronix UBox and Digi AnywhereUSB/5 are the two best. Some USB copy protection dongles will not work on each device (eg. certain versions of the Wibu-Systems WIBU-KEY will not work with a AnywhereUSB).

Be sure to install the latest dongle device drivers too from the manufacturer website. Don't install the drivers that come with the software package.