Requirements and Installation
Requirements
- Valid WinCC OA license.
- SEH Dongle Server
Installation
Since vSphere HA automatically restarts VMs on different hosts, WinCC OA should be configured as a service. Additionally, if a server is also used as a workstation with UIs, the operating system of the VM can be configured to not require user input during startup. However this imposes a security risk for your server and is not advised.
Furthermore a SEH Dongle Server has to be set up for licensing purposes.
WinCC OA
SEH Dongle Server
In order to fully utilize the capabilities of a vSphere HA cluster, a dongle server is needed. The SEH Dongle Server enables the distribution of dongle licenses over the network and can be configured with the myUTN Manager software. You can find the latest version of the UTN Manager and firmware on:
http://www.seh.de/services/downloads.html
The UTN-Server is compatible with WinCC OA dongle licenses, which can be requested from ETM. Setup instructions for the Dongle Server can be found here. To avoid a single point of failure in a redundant WinCC OA setup, it is recommended to use two redundant dongle server.
If the UTN Manager Service is not shut down properly because e.g the VM crashes, the Dongle license is not released immediately and it takes 1 – 2 minutes after the VM was restarted until the license is usable again. Therefore there is a chance that the first license check executed by the WinCC OA project will fail. In that case the project will start with an emergency license, which is valid for seven days. During the emergency period it is not possible to open the GEDI, which also affects the second system in a redundant project. WinCC OA checks the license periodically and once it has detected a valid license (after a few additional minutes), the project will be fully functional again.
Due to performance reasons it is recommended that each running virtual machine uses a separate hard disk and a separate network adapter.
VMware vSphere
For general questions regarding VMware vSphere please refer to the vSphere documentation: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/index.html
For additional information on networking and availability please refer to:
