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    dread - Former HES Forum Member
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Some networking help please!!

Hi,
We have 7 clubs in our complex, with 2 iPC and 5 dedicated Hog3PC systems running the lights. I keep all Hog3 systems software up to date. I do not use any DP2000 or DP8000's. All system dmx are connected via widgets or super widgets. I also have 15 PC's running video, lasers, music and some stage mechanics. I have an AV server which we regularly backup the shows on. All the clubs PC's are connected to a fibre linked gigabit network, and have fixed IP addresses, and have access to internet. There are about 100 PC's across the network. The iPC's weren't connected due to issues I had with Hog3 V2.0.x. but I would like to connect them to the network at some point.
I run XP Professional SP3 on Dual Core systems with 2gig ram, Nvidia Quadro video cards & ELO Touch screens. I have Windows firewall off and run norton internet security 2003 & 2009 on the AV PC's.

Previously I had Hog3PC configured to run off the loopback adaptor, and ignore the network connection, so that network going down etc wouldn't affect running of the shows.
I didn't worry about port and net numbers, apart from each Hog3PC having a different port number. They are all running different shows.

I updated our iPC's with full install of v8.3 image, and updated iPC config and hog3pc v3.0.1.
I updated 1 of Hog3PC system to v3.0.0, and then v3.0.1 when it came out. After a couple of weeks of it running smoothly and we are happpy with it I proceeded to upgrade all systems to v3.0.1 b2425.

Instant headache!! Not 1 system would work!! Even the system which had been running for a couple of weeks now would not work!!
The show server would not load. If I said 'ok' to waiting it would try again but would not start. If I said 'no' it would log off to config screen. If I tell it to launch show it would ask me to unlock, then I would have an "fps: " exception and have to restart the software. No change after restart.
I'm sorry that I did not have time to note down the error messages and steps I took to try and remedy it but with the clubs open or opening soon time was not on my side!
I guessed it was due to the new way of dealing with network in v3.0.x so removed all the network connections from all the systems and got all systems to work! PHEW!!!! I haven't reconnected the systems to the network yet.

So... my question is...
How should I setup the Hog3PC networking in this type of system?
What network settings should I use for the iPC's?
I need to used fixed IP's as I stream music and media to other PC's on the network and cannot have an IP conflict.

Regards,
Craig Burridge.
:hogsign: makes us look better!:hogsign:
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    If you go into the control panel and the networking tab, if you select that adapter in the drop-down hit apply it should use that.

    In this situation I think you need to start thinking about using VLANs with managed switches. Put all your other computers on another VLAN so there is not a way for any of this to conflict. Are the same machines that you use to run Hog 3pc needing to get media stuff? I would not recommend this. I would use a dedicated computer for only the lighting console itself and use another for whatever else you needed.

    I understand this is not how the previous version works as they had to re-do a lot of stuff for the version 3. I personally find it to be much better.

    And for the record, if someone disconnects or a switch fails, you can use the pig+open+backspace to re-start the show server. It will only take seconds to get it back up and communicating.

    Ryan
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    If you go into the control panel and the networking tab, if you select that adapter in the drop-down hit apply it should use that.

    In this situation I think you need to start thinking about using VLANs with managed switches. Put all your other computers on another VLAN so there is not a way for any of this to conflict. Are the same machines that you use to run Hog 3pc needing to get media stuff? I would not recommend this. I would use a dedicated computer for only the lighting console itself and use another for whatever else you needed.

    I understand this is not how the previous version works as they had to re-do a lot of stuff for the version 3. I personally find it to be much better.

    And for the record, if someone disconnects or a switch fails, you can use the pig+open+backspace to re-start the show server. It will only take seconds to get it back up and communicating.

    Ryan
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