Vista - USB via networking???

Is it possible to use a product like AnuwhereUSB from Digi
(http://www.digi.com/products/usb/anywhereusb.jsp) as a way to get USB
devices into a virtual machine?
This hub is operating via the Ethernet network.

I have a use case where our customers are moving towards virtual
servers and our database functionality is thus installed on a virtual
PC platform. But our licensing system use SafeNet Sentinel dongles,
which are USB devices and there is a problem connecting these to a
virtual machine....

If one uses the product above, will it be possible to register the USB
device in a virtual machine?
Or does it still need emulated USB hardware (nonexistent) to work?

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

I have tried to use the similar Silex USB Device Box but couldn't get i to
work for a special application - it's not universal, but only works for some
equipment.

I would instead try these software programs
http://www.fabulatech.com/usb-over-network.html
http://www.eltima.com/products/usb-over-ethernet/


"Bo Berglund" <boberglund@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:9ttuu41mtanuu5tse92hgptvhv0st1mbb1@xxxxxx

Ups, not sure they support virtual USB ports.

On Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:46:45 +0200, "jorgensen" <jorgs@xxxxxx>
wrote:The problem is that I cannot suggest a software solution because then
the USB device has to be plugged into a host PC somewhere and we are
immediately seeing two PC:s involved. The customer's IT department
would not allow this since they are consolidating all of their servers
virtually...

I have contacted the Swedish distributor for Digi and I will be able
to borrow a unit for testing. I'll report back when I have some
results...


--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

On Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:12:18 +0200, "jorgensen" <jorgs@xxxxxx>
wrote:I found this on the DIGI webpage for AnywhereUSB. It concerns VMWare
ESX guests, but it is really about Windows drivers:
http://ftp1.digi.com/support/documen...usb_vmware.txt

<quote>
AnywhereUSB Installation on a VMWare ESX Server

Problem:
The AnywhereUSB drivers do not install on a VMWare ESX Server

Cause
VMware ESX does not support USB. The USB drivers are not copied to the
VMware system by default. The AnywhereUSB device is dependent on the
USB core files to properly install.

Solution
Copy over the usbd.sys file from the original operating system disk
into Windows (or winnt) \system32\drivers directory. Reboot your
machine. You can then continue with the AWUSB installation as normal.
</quote>

It looks that by putting this driver (usbd.sys) in the right place on
the guest system it would be possible to make it recognize a
redirected USB driver.
Might work also in a VPC2007 or VS2005 guest...

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

On Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:52:09 +0200, Bo Berglund <boberglund@xxxxxx>
wrote:
Partial success, but still a ways to go....
I have tested this configuration:
- DIGI AnywhereUSB Concentrator with 5 USB ports.
- Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1
- Guest operating system Windows 2003 Enterprise Server

After a rather extensive set of installs and then also some restarts
of both the concentrator and the Win2003 server guset itself I have
reached the following situation:

1) There is now a USB subsystem on the virtual computer. :-)
2) If I plug a USB memory stick into the unit it will be mapped to
a drive letter in the virtual machine. :-)
3) If I plug a Safenet Sentinel Pro dongle into the concentrator
a USB device named SafeNet Sentinel... appears in Device Manager
in the guest. :-)
4) Unfortunately (for my use) the software that tries to access the
protection dongle reports that the Sentinel driver has not been
loaded. :-(

So the situation now is that the Sentinel driver is running so far as
to being able to discover a USB device as a Sentinel unit, but when a
program tries to use the device then it fails to allow access.

I don't really know where to go from here on the USB software
protection key access route, but it seems like the DIGI unit is in any
case capable of giving a virtual machine USB capabilities at least for
some types of USB devices.

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

Bo Berglund wrote:What about printers?

--
David Wilkinson
Visual C++ MVP

On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:51:58 +0200, Bo Berglund <boberglund@xxxxxx>
wrote:
I have now tested a later version (7.4.2) of the sentinel driver and
installed support for both USB and printer port.

After this it started working so now I can in fact access USB hardware
protection keys from within a virtual computer also with Microsoft
virtualization.
But the DIGI AnywhereUSB Concentrator carries a price tag (here in
Sweden) of about $500....

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

Bo Berglund wrote:
Direct from Digi US online store - $ 349.00 (US Dollars)
Direct from Digi EMEA online store - 296.00 (Euro)

You may be shopping in expensive Swedish store...:-)

Jan M. Nelken

On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:12:49 +0200, "jorgensen" <jorgs@xxxxxx>
wrote:Yes, I saw that one too, but so far I have not seen how I can easily
obtain a test unit here in Sweden. I would love to check it out
though. In fact i wrote them and asked about their product and got a
reassurance that it works with software protection dongles too.
If it is 50 Euro then it is really much less expensive than the DIGI
one.
This is exactly what I did wrong yesterday then...
Today with the new Sentinel driver I did not deselect the printer port
driver as I did yesterday and it worked. Probably it would have worked
also yesterday if I had not gotten "smart" and deselected components
that I thought were not needed (parallel port dongles are no loner in
use by us).


--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)