DSC Run-Time Licence Questions

Question

Hello,
I have recently discovered that LabView Developers Suite that I thougt was a complete development & deployment platform is not:
Since I had chosen to use DSC Modbus funcitonality, I need the DSC Runtime as well, apprantly both on my development system, and on the PC where the system will be deployed.
As bad as this is, I find it more frustrating to find out how these licences must be handled.
Our customer is a Precast Concrete Production plant that is not accustomed to handling software installation and licence issues.
Further, the PC is of course not online to the internet: This is a rough production environment.
I will build a complete installation package so that that customer can install the complete software onto the PC in a few easy steps.
I thougt LabView was up to this task, but I am now wondering if this is the case.
My questions are:
Must the DSC Runtime Licence be activated on the client's PC?
If yes, how is the licence activated when the PC has no internet connection?
PCs quite frequently die in these rough environments, and the client must be able to quickly install my software package onto a new PC to keep the production running!
Can the client reinstall my software package on a new PC with no DSC Runtime licence hassle?
What are the exact steps to do this?
Suggestions:
I strongly feel that NI should put up information about the fact that a DSC runtime is needed and links that explain these Licence issues on the following page:
http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/1012
The page above should also contain a link to this page: http://www.ni.com/labview/labviewdsc/faq.htm
Like it is now, developers are waiting valuable time to find answers to thse questions (at least we did).
Message Edited by geirove on 12-07-2009 03:44 AM
Message Edited by geirove on 12-07-2009 03:46 AM
Message Edited by geirove on 12-07-2009 03:48 AM
Geir Ove
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Answer 1

Christian_M wrote:
Hi,
If you simply need to use ModBus, here is a free library for LabVIEW: http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/201711
To your questions:
Must the DSC Runtime Licence be activated on the client's PC? Yes
If yes, how is the licence activated when the PC has no internet connection? You can call your local NI Office, give them the Serial Number and the Computer ID (could be found in the license manager) and activate it per hand.
PCs quite frequently die in these rough environments, and the client must be able to quickly install my software package onto a new PC to keep the production running! They can again call NI with the new computer ID
It is not an option to start rewriting code to use the Modbus library directly at this time. We use DSC to bind Shared Variables to Modbus addresses.
So NI is open 24  * 7 to support this and other 24 * 7 industries with new Runtime Licenses when a Control System PC / RT Module breaks down?
This does not look good for using DSC functionality in this industry. The potential client base here, is quite large: > 130 factories throuhtout Europe.
Why doesn't NI simply let users run 30 days on a temporary DSC Runtime License the way you do it for all other NI products?
a) This way we could test the software.
b) Clients could reinstall and have 30 days to get help to activate the DSC Runtime License.
Does not look like NI is interested in supporting 24 * 7 industries at all !
Better suggestions from NI?
Geir Ove