1.0 Introduction

Keri is often asked the question: 'Can Doors.NET be used on a Virtual Machine?' and the short answer is Yes. Apart from the presence of a physical workstation running Doors.NET in a virtual environment is almost exactly the same as if it were being run on a physical machine.

1.1 General Notes

• There are many different vendors and virtualization platforms/products and it is not the responsibility of Keri to recommend any specific solution.
• Virtualization is NOT the same as Cloud Computing.
• Virtualization is a component of Cloud Computing.
• You are separating the operating system from the underlying hardware.
• Virtualization gives you a 'layer' upon which you can install an instance of an operating system (i.e Windows, Linux, Unix) whatever the hardware can support.
• You now install something called a 'Hypervisor' onto the server and then you install the operating system onto that hypervisor.
• If you have another physical server with the same type of hypervisor - you can then move an instance of one of the operating systems over to the second server (just as easy as if you were copying across a file or folder) - you would just need to use the same virtualization software each time, as some are not compatible.
• The operating system is now no longer tied to the physical hardware - it is installed onto the hypervisor.
• It allows you to install multiple different instances of operating systems onto one piece of physical server hardware.
• Saves on the cost of multiple, physical server machines.

2.0 Pre-Requisites

If the client is installed onto a different machine from the Application Server, the Application server needs to have a static IP address. we recommend using the Doors.NET client on the remote machine rather than using Remote Desktop to run the Doors.NET client on the VM.

3.0 System Requirements

The overall system requirements are almost identical to that if the software were to be used on a physical PC:

3.1 Communication Methods

Communication to the hardware must be via Ethernet, not Serial or USB-Serial communications.

3.2 Supported Windows Operating Systems

The Virtual Machine must be a fully licensed Windows operating system that is supported by Doors.NET.

Note: Doors.NET is NOT compatible with any home or basic version of Windows (except for Windows 10). This is due to networking restrictions that are built into these versions.

3.3 Host PC System Specifications

The same host PC system specifications still apply as though the system were to be hosted on a physical workstation:

Windows must be updated with the latest security and .NET Framework updates.

These are the recommended minimum specifications to ensure optimum system operation.

Note: You should consider upgrading from the listed recommendations if your system has a very large number of controllers or cardholders.

4.0 Software Installation Recommendations and Guidelines

4.1 Anti-Virus Software

Keri recommends temporarily disabling any anti-virus software running on the host PC during installation of the Doors.NET software. It can be enabled once Doors.NET has been installed.

4.2 Administrative Rights

When installing the Doors.NET software the user should have full administrative rights. Once the software has been installed, the user who will be administering Doors.NET will need full admin rights to the Doors.NET program and also full read/write/modify permissions for the C:\Keri\DoorsNET local directory.

4.3 Installing on a Server Operating System

If installation will be on a Server operating system, it is strongly recommended that you have an IT specialist that is a Microsoft Certified Professional present during the install (as Server operating systems have unique requirements that certified professionals are trained to handle.

4.4 If the SQL Database is Located on a Different Physical Machine

If the database will be located on a different machine, towards the end of the installation wizard you would select to install: 'Application Server Only'. Once installation is complete, you would then run the UpdateDHSDB utility on the physical machine that already has SQL Server installed. This utility can be found on the machine that Doors.NET was installed, in the following directory (C:\Keri\DoorsNET). The utility allows you to manually install the Doors.NET database and will also add the SQL user name and password that the Application Server uses to connect to the database.

Note: When Doors.NET software is updated you will also need to run the UpdateDHSDB utility on the database machine to also update the database.