GMG software in a virtual environment

As companies move forward and look for ways to enhance their operations, virtualization is coming to the fore more frequently, providing enhanced security and stability and a simplified system management.

Generally, GMG software products can be run in a virtualized environment. All hardware connections, including the dongle, printers, measuring devices, etc. may work, but are not officially supported. Therefore, we recommend to first verify the hardware support of the applied virtualization solution.

Limitations: The color gamut comparison tool GamutViewer (integrated in GMG ProfileEditor) may not work on virtual machines due to the required DirectX support (DirectX is not supported in most virtualization solutions).

System requirements

As virtualization typically adds varying amounts of overhead, depending on the workload and the type of virtualization used, it is generally recommended to exceed the given requirements, especially in terms of storage. For example, running GMG ColorServer in a VMWare ESXi environment, we experienced a performance loss of around 20% compared to runnning the software on an identically configured physical machine.

For more details, please refer to the recommended system requirements.

License management

We recommend using GMG softlicensing instead of a hardware dongle. Hardware dongles must be routed to the virtual machine over the network using a USB network adapter (e.g., from SEH, Silex, USB over Network, or Anywhere USB). Native USB passthrough in current hypervisors is not supported due to driver limitations.

Tip: If you choose to continue using a hardware dongle, make sure to configure automatic reconnection after each virtual-machine reboot.

Printer control: calibrating and measuring

With bridged networking, printers with a bidirectional communication suffer no communication loss. We do not recommend using NAT, or routing different IP subnets for printer and virtual server. Measuring with external measuring devices turns out problematic if passed through to virtual machines, often resulting in a complete loss of connection. Therefore, the following recommendations should be taken into account.

• Proof verification: verify your proofs with an embedded measuring device, using ProofControl Inline.
   
• Calibration: Calibrate your printer with an embedded measuring device, or use GMG Remote Cali-Wizard. (GMG Remote CaliWizard is a remote calibration client and available free of charge. It should be installed on a physical machine with an external measuring device attached.)