Prinergy 5.3 on VM (VirtualBox)

[menzy]

Hi Guys,
So initially I posted about my client having issues using the server with errors caused by the Database which we resolved by reverting the server to an older state (he didn't mind  the lose of data).

However, given that this software is the centre of his business, to be able to give him better support and minimise downtime. I decided to install a brand new instance for him.
New HDD (old ones remain as is) running Centos 8 with VirtualBox installed.

Installing Windows 2008 R2 using the WIM left by the vendor who did the setup for him initially. Going through the steps outlined in this forum (https://www.printroot.com/forum/f17/installation-prinergy-2220/) which it all went straight forward.

Until we needed to communicate with the achieve Platesetter, for the life of me I can't this thing to communicate to the server and I have tried ALOT of different things.

Setup -
Centos 8 - installed Natively
Virtual Box - Running WinServer 08R2 Kodak version
NIC - two NICs installed both pass through (bridge mode) Second NIC is the GMCE Master Connection with all the items disabled except for IPV4 (IP Config: 192.168.100.209/255.255.255.128) everything else left blank.

When starting the Prinergy Server it all works find and launching print console shows no activity to the platesetter.
Host config I'm unable to run as I dont have a service dongle (could this be?) I get a message when I reboot saying it doesn't have a config as it's newly installed...

The NIC has been setup with checksum disabled for IPV4 and UDP - Jumbo packet has been set to 9014 at both Guest OS and Host OS.

I've setup DHCP server to try and have the platesetter get an IP and it does... if I set reservation to .193 I get no pings back - every other IP does which is weird (I know I dont need DHCP server but I'm now desperate)

On top of all this I can barley FIND any guides/materials of sorts to help out... and thus im coming to you guys for help. Kodak refuse to work with him as he's out of support and calling a few 3rd party support don't seem to be interested given that he's a few major versions behind (btw his licence allows him to update to Ver. 6)

Please guys any help anyone can shed on this I'd really appreciate it. I can work with anyone offline and do a full post on what resolved the issue and hopefully help someone else like me out there.

Thanks in advanced.

[Joe]

Are you just talking about a network connection to the platesetter PC? What kind of data are you trying to send to that PC? Tiff files or some other data. Can you network to other computers on that network? Can the platesetter PC see the CENTOS PC on the network? I have limited experience with CENTOS but I always had networking issues because of the the Firewall on CENTOS.

[menzy]

Platesetter and Server are plugged in directly to each other. Server has 3 NICs:
1- Network (10.1.1.0/24)
2- GMCE Master Connection directly into the platesetter
3- Disabled in Centos

Centos Firewall is turned off and Guest Server 08R2.

When I launch Printer Console, the platesetter is never detected.
Does the platesetter have a static IP or does it look for DHCP?
At one stage I was able to get it to show an IP when I installed a DHCP role on the server but even then Print Console couldn't pick up the platesetter...

[Joe]

Our platesetter just has one bit tiffs going to our platesetter PC. Prinergy just copies them to the tiff catcher software hot folder. All of our computers have static IP's.

Does your platesetter PC have an ARAXI account on it with the same ARAXI password as the Prinergy server. If not it needs to have it.

[menzy]

Yes it does, was setup during the installation process.

I can start the server no issues with all the modules and applications but it can't see the platesetter at all... Looking at the firmware folder the. ini file shows what up the pc has to be 192.168.100.209 255.255.255.128... Is any of this sound right to you?

Does the platesetter need a dhcp assigned iP?

[Joe]

What is the IP address of the VM operating system that Prinergy is running in?

[menzy]

192.168.100.209 255.255.255.128 - gmce
10.1.1.15 255.255.255.254 - primary NIC

[Joe]

You may be fighting a losing battle.

As far as I can tell Prinergy does not support running in a VirtualBox VM. Their documentation states it must be running on VMware vSphere. We looked into it once and decided the requirements, and there are many, were more complicated than running it in a stand alone server. Also the feature to run in a VM may not have been an option back in Prinergy 5.3.

Have they ran Prinergy previously in a VM? A VirtualBox VM? If not, why try it in a VM now and why a linux OS like CENTOS?

[menzy]

All good questions and to give you some context here is a short version of the story:

Owner of the printing company has had his install for over 10+ years and suddenly database has issues starting and the whole thing comes down.
The client has made the mistake of NOT renewing his support with Kodak and thus when asked for help/support it was refused.

Then I came into the picture as their adhoc Tech guy.

Centos: it's very stable platform and known to be compatible with most Dell Server hardware
VirtualBox: Best free option on the market right now and the ability to passthrough a lot of devices directly into the guest. i.e USB dongle

I should have outlined as well, their previous Native installed Windows 2008 R2 is having the exact same issue! and thus right now I'm stuck for options on what to look at.

Hopefully this gives you a clearer picture.

[Joe]

But was their Prinergy server ever running in a VM? I cannot find any Prinergy documentation that says it will work inside a Virtual Box VM nor can I find any information fro running Prinergy 5.3 inside of any VM.

[Joe]

Attached are two documents related to running Prinergy in a VM.

[menzy]

Thank you for providing those documents. Though they do shed some light and some further things to try out.

Would you happen to have anything relating to the GMCE Master Connection and best way to have the platesetter plugged into the network (either it be directly attached to the server or via a network switch)?
Or a document outlining new installs from start to finish - that would be helpful too

Keep in mind I'm still learning about this system and quickly finding out how finicky it is!

Worst case scenario I re-install Windows Server 2008 R2 back natively and go from there

[Joe]

It sounds like Prinergy drives your platesetter directly and I have no experience with that. Our platesetter has a stand alone PC with tiff catcher software so Prinergy just sends one-bitt tiffs to that PC via our local network to a hot folder to the platesetter software. You could try just going through a switch from Prinergy to the platesetter.

One thing you posted is:

192.168.100.209 255.255.255.128 - gmce
10.1.1.15 255.255.255.254 - primary NIC

Is the one labeled gmce the 2nd network card on the CENTOS Server or the network card on the platesetter and primary NIC is in the CENTOS Server?

VirtualBox uses virtual a NIC. What is the IP address it gets assigned. This would be your Windows OS and Prinergy's IP address. Since the Primary NIC has an IP address of 10.1.1.15 does the VM network use that sam2 IP range, 10.1.1.x, as the Primary NIC? If so that could be the problem as the Prinergy server would be on a different subnet than the gmce card. That is assuming all of my above assumptions are accurate.

[menzy]

I'm not sure what the recommended setup is... this is how it was setup previously.
If you are saying I can use router/switch then I can try that as well.

As for the network cards, they are both on the server:
gmce - that plugs directly into the platesetter - No config on Centos and on VirtualBox it's passing it through as a NIC
Primary is plugged into an ISP network for Internet on Centos and also on Guest OS (both passing through, thus they get dhcp LAN addresses from the ISP router)

Therefore the platesetter and Server are on the same subnet.

[Joe]

What I don't understand is:

As for the network cards, they are both on the server:
gmce - that plugs directly into the platesetter

so you have the gmce card in the CENTOS server and it plugs directly into the platesetter? Plugs into where and what on the platesetter? Via an ethernet cable to a NIC that is installed into the platesetter? Or what? Or is it something like a SCSI, Firewire, or USB connection?