GMG ProductionSuite across different subnets

GMG ProductionSuite modules are individually licensed and they receive dynamically their usage license from a single system (Mac or PC) that acts as a LicenseServer. As long as that LicenseServer is in the same subnet there is no manual configuration required in any module on any station.

Things get a bit different though if modules are in different subnets. To allow working in this type of environments the ProductionSuite modules allow to enter fixed IP addresses to ensure proper communication between modules.

- RIP and PrintStation have 1 field for LicenseServer IP (*)

- SmartProfiler has 1 field for RIP IPs (allows multiple)

- Editor has 1 field for LicenseServer IP (*) and 1 field for RIP IPs (allows multiple)

(*) the LicenseServer IP setting is shared between modules, so you only need to set it in one application on a workstation.

NetBIOS names or similar are not supported, please set the LicenseServer and RIPs to fixed IP addresses.

Here are the different settings:

- in RIP you can enter 1 fix LicenseServer, which can be in a different subnet area

- in Editor you can also enter that 1 LicenseServer (it is automatically taken from RIP if on the same PC - that configuration setting is shared)

- in Editor you can enter MULTIPLE RIP IP (new in 2.1; in 2.0 or previous the limit was 1) of same and different subnets.

- in PrintStation you can enter LicenseServer IP (as if RIP is set to ROOM the printer license is actually used by PrintStation and not by RIP)

- in SmartProfiler you can like in Editor enter multiple RIP IP addresses (no need for LicenseServer in SmartProfiler)

The moment a user enters an IP address into such a field the automatic search gets disabled. It is also possible to intentionally enter such IP addresses – even if all stations are in the same subnet – to simply deactivate the search during launch and thus shorten startup and increase the quality of communication between modules.

For field engineers or technicians that have a separate LicenseServer running on a mobile workstation (like a laptop computer) it is recommended to permanently enter 127.0.0.1 as fixed LicenseServer IP to avoid unintentionally picking up licenses from a central office LicenseServer when connected to the production network (this also applies to dealers or technicians when connecting to a customer network where ProductionSuite is running). Using 127.0.0.1 does not affect the stability of the licensing if the workstation has DHCP enabled.

Side note:

LicenseServer needs to run the same version as workstations (RIP/Editor). While it is possible to install LicenseServer on its own onto a backoffice server with no other ProductionSuite module running, we recommend to also install either RIP or Editor on that station, which allow to run the automatic web updater (which cannot be run from LicenseServer itself as LicenseServer lacks a user interface)