I hope to have it next week to begin testing

Based upon the messages here on the VMTN we went with the Digi product. Works great --unless-- you are using Veritas Configuration Manager (now owned by Symantec). There is a conflict in the driver and VCM blue screens the server.

We turn off VCM and the Digi/USB product flat out works! Would like to be able to connect more than one server to one USB device though.

Eric

I installed the Lantronix device server once. One cool feature is that you can connect from many servers to this usb-server and dedicate each of the 4 ports to another server.
You don't have to buy 4 devices if you want to connect 4 license dongles, just buy one

I am also looking for a hardware solution that supports sharing USB over IP (aka USB Servers). Here is information about 5 hardware devices, that I obtained from their websites:

Keyspan - model U2S-2A (2-port)
- supported OS: WinXP or Vista (32bit), MacOS X v10.3.9 or greater
- supports 8 connections???
- does not currently support attachment of USB hubs (expected in future firmware)
- PROS: claims it can support any USB device that is NOT an isochronous device or an ILOK dongle by PACE
CONS: Limited documentation for this model

Silex technology - model SX-2000U2 (1-port)
- supported OS: W2K, WinXP, Vista, MacOS X
- supports 15 connections (incl. hub)
- PROS: Frequent firmware updates, supports more connections
- CONS: only one port

Lantronix - model UBox 2100 (2-port)
- supported OS: W2K, WinXP
- supports 8 connections???
- Isochronous audio/video support
- PROS: First and currently only to claim to support isochronous transfers
- CONS: Limited documentation on this model

Belkin - model F5L009 (5-port)
- supported OS: WinXP,Vista (incl 64bit), MacOS 10.4 (beta)
- supports 16 connections
- PROS: Sexy looking, supports more connections, comes already with 5 ports, claims it may supported isochronous transfers in future update
- CONS: reports suggests poor performance with drives, but this may be a perception issue

IOGear - model GMFPSU22W6 (2-Port)
- supported OS: W2K, WinXP
- supports 5 connections
- PROS: supports a storage server mode, allowing multiple user access
- CONS: don't have any info yet on this model

I am only comparing USB2.0 hi-speed (upto 480Mbps) models, even though most of these mfg have full-speed (upto 12 Mbps) models too. All seem to sell for approximately $130 and support common features like WLAN compatible, printer auto-connect share, 500mA power per port. Plus some mfg are looking to add more features in future firmware and driver releases. Early testing suggest that these units perform marginally better than USB1.1 devices, due to the network connection (latency), but I am curious about the performance of the Lantronix model that claims to support isochronous transfers.

Same here! Thanks for all the informative posts everyone. Once again the vmware forums come through with the goods!

I'm wanting to virtualise a license server for PSCad that uses the HVDC License Manager, and Safenet SuperPro USB dongle.

Originally I was just looking at the Digi but did not realise it would only share its ports with 1 server. That isn't a problem at the moment since I only have 1 USB requirement, however you never know when another one might come up.

After getting the Belkin hub I was disappointed with the fact it did not support Windows 2003 and only XP and Vista. Even testing with a virtual XP machine I could not get the Belkin to work. It did work with Virtual Server but not with ESX.

I then purchased the Lantronix 4 port hub and it worked beautifully. I use it for license servers and this is the only model we will buy going forward.

I am also using an Aladdin Key (HASP 2.17) with Windows 2003 so I did not have issues with usbd.sys. The only problem I had with the Aladdin key was the License Service was starting before Windows initialized communcations with the key. So I set the license service to start manually and setup a vb script to run on startup that waits 20 seconds then starts the license service. No problems after that.

Does the USB Device Server software have any issues reconnecting with the key?