Linux server licence

Submitted by kab on #1

Hey,

I'm about to purchase a licence for my setup. I already use the free version with the VH daemon running on my Linux local machine, and the VH client on a distant Windows machine. The purchase page mentions two things that I would like to clarify before committing:

1. "A license is bound to the server hardware and cannot be moved or transferred"

Could you please elaborate how the server hardware is recognized? I image the server is my Linux machine where I run the VH server as daemon and connect my USB devices physically. Is the VH licence tied to the motherboard, the OS, or anything else? I would like to know to which point upgrading my local hardware in the future may void my licence.

2. Also, the instructions say " Start your VirtualHere Client -> Right Click USB Hubs -> License... -> Copy to Clipboard"

Do I understand correctly that I need to copy the licence from the client, Windows, machine to fill the purchase form? If paid licences are tied to the server, but copied from the client, how does it work? Is the first server to connect to the client immediately tied as the tied server machine? I'm asking because I may be interested in keeping free VH servers (with the limitations) to connect to the same Windows client, but want to make sure the paid version is assigned to my machine where most USB devices are.

Thank you very much in advance for your answer, and for keeping this nice software up to date so consistently over the last years.

Submitted by kab on Tue, 2020/08/25 - 23:26

#2

I'm sorry for the typos, should have proof read before posting.

Submitted by kab on Tue, 2020/08/25 - 23:28

#3

Also, I think I just understood (2): "USB hub" shown in the client window is actually the VH server, so the licence I would get from there is indeed tied to the server.

Submitted by Michael on Wed, 2020/08/26 - 08:54

#4

1. There is not a simple answer, sometimes it is the cpu serial number, sometimes the bios motherboard serial and sometimes the mac address. But its not related to the Linux OS.

2. Yeah the client doesnt know anything about serial numbers, it just asks the server for the serial number which you then paste into the purchase page.

Submitted by kab on Wed, 2020/08/26 - 19:46

#5

Thank you for your answer. I must admit I am a bit afraid that upgrading my local server (which is just my home computer, so CPU or Motherboard upgrades can happen relatively frequently). I hope my licence has not been tied to the MAC address because my current motherboard has two distinct Ethernet ports and I have been using both in the past few weeks because they seemed to show unstable and different bandwidth between boots (probably software reasons). I'll guess I'll know soon!

I purchased a license yesterday anyway, all went well! The only (significant, however) issue is I noticed several freezes of my USB devices. I just tried a HOTAS and a TrackIR device yesterday. But they both froze multiple times, the TrackIR more often than the HOTAS. All in all, it happened about 15 times in a 2.5-hour session. They were still showing as "In use" in VirtualHere, so I am not sure if this can be a problem with my internet connection (it was stable yesterday, though not very fast, about 15 Mbps). Stopping using the TrackIR and then double-clicking it on it to use it again tended to solve the problem, but the frequent hiccups are still an issue. I'll check the forum here and see if there are other reports about problems with TrackIR.

Submitted by Michael on Wed, 2020/08/26 - 20:35

#6

Can you look in /var/log/syslog and see if there are any "xhci" messages around the time the lockup occurs. Also what kernel are you using (uname -a)?

Submitted by kab on Fri, 2020/08/28 - 03:03

#7

I haven't add the time to use those USB devices again yet, but will post any xhci logs when I do and observe the same issue again. Until then, this is my kernel: 5.5.11-151.current #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Mar 24 18:06:46 UTC 2020 x86_64 GNU/Linux.

Submitted by Michael on Fri, 2020/08/28 - 07:19

#8

Also in the virtualhere client right click USB Hubs->About->Statistics what sort of graph does that show?

Submitted by kab on Sun, 2020/08/30 - 01:24

#9

I couldn't find any relevant matches for xhci in journalctl (which is where syslog is on my distribution). The ping for the USB hub is relatively steady at about 10 to 40 ms, most of the time aroudn 15. This looks normal as the client is not on the same local network and I just have a DSL connection.

Submitted by Michael on Sun, 2020/08/30 - 18:22

#10

Your kernel is good so I think it might be the latency then.

TrackIR should be ok e.g (https://steamcommunity.com/app/440520/discussions/0/135514766277334569/)

but i think 40ms is pretty high. The virtualhere latency graph ideally should be below 20ms. I assume you are using ethernet between your pc and your router? If not definitely switch to Ethernet if you can to keep the latency as low as possible

Submitted by kab on Mon, 2020/09/14 - 18:17

#11

This seems to be better since a few days, I'm not sure what caused the issue initially. Now I'm facing another problem but that's not a VirtualHere problem, just the way licenses are designed: I have two PCs at home in different rooms that I would have liked using alternatively as servers (always on the same client, a remote VM), but unfortunately the VH license is tied to servers and not to clients, so I would need two licences for that despite using always the same remote client. I knew it when purchasing the license, no worries, but this is frustrating!