How to join a network domain with the rt controller running PharLab?

[Ceslav]

I have a PXI system that I would like to be able to access throughout the corporate network. Currently, I am accessing it via the IP address, but would like to use the Host Name instead. Unfortunately, I could not find a way to join the network domain with the controller running PharLab. 

Any suggestion to this issue would be welcome.

Regard,

Ceslav

[ThiCop]

Hello Ceslav,

Some questions:

- How are you connecting to your corporate network?

- Are you using DHCP to get your IP-address?

If this is the case, then I would expect you to be using a DNS Server of the Corporate Network.

And this should get automatically specified for the RT PXI.

Side questions:

- Have you been already in contact with your internal IT colleagues concerning this?

- How familiar are you with networking concepts, DNS, etc... ?

[Ceslav]

Hi ThiCop,

I have certain familiarity with the Networking concepts.

Currently the local DHCP server provides a fixed IP address to the system, and I access it through this IP. However, due to some changes to our network this will be more difficult to maintain in the future. I am connecting to the corporate network via a laptop from very different locations on campus, and can access via the hostname only the computers that are explicitly part of the domain, otherwise I can see them only via IP address (which will be dynamic in the future).

I was also expecting to be able to access the machine via the hostname, but it does not work in practice. It could be an artifact of our network configuration as well. I will consult our admins further on this subject, but first was interested whether there is an option to join a network domain similar to Windows, i.e., http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/connect-computer-domain#1TC=windows-7 .

Regards,

Ceslav

PS: kudo and solved will come in due time :-).

[Bob_Schor]

In LabVIEW 2012 RT (and later ones, too), on the Real-Time Palette under RT Utilities, System Configuration, there is a Find Systems VI that will search your network for all PXIs.  It can report their IP, their Host Name, or their MAC Address (I believe it can do two of the three, your choice).  It can take a little time (less than a minute), but it does find them (at least on my system) ...

Bob Schor

[Bob_Schor]

Oops, I realize I didn't exactly answer the question.  How I use this is to "find the PXI".  Once I find it, I use the IP address that Find Systems returns to me to actually make the connection, as that is what the LabVIEW functions want.  In your case, where you know the Host Name, but not necessarily the IP, you'd use the list returned by Find Systems (Host Name + IP), find the entry with the desired Host Name, and then use the IP to make your LabVIEW connection.

BS

[ThiCop · Accepted solution]

Hello Bob and Ceslav,

I think that Ceslav was looking for/asking something different. (please tell me if I am wrong)

He wants to really make his RT PXI "look-uppable" via his company network without being necessarily on the same subnet (and without using the IP-address).

Given the extra information you (Ceslav) provide I would still suggest that you contact your IT department first to see how they prefer to do this.

Generally they will have a preferred method to do this. (both for Desktops as for other devices)

Sometimes it just comes down to adding to "adding your host name and IP-address to a DNS-list".

The page you link to is a Windows specific way adding yourself to a domain.

Do note that adding yourself to a domain should provide you with the possibility of using host names.

However, it also does other things, that might not be possible or even allowed for other types of devices.

In most companies you will not even have from your desktop the necessary admin rights to add your own pc (following this way) to the domain since this can cause alot of security issues/risks.

Since I do not really know what the IT set-up is at your side I cannot really (with confidence) comment on what you should be able to do (and what not).

[Ceslav]

Thierry your comment hits exactly on the situation.

And indeed, adding PXI to the domain network could give access to it to others outside the campus, which could be a security risk. Nevertheless, this is exactly what I am looking for, i.e., availability of the system within the entire campus network (different submets) and possibly to the outside world through the same address (for example my-pxi.ddd.com).

However, I just recalled that there are some issues with deploying applications from LabView project window. I believe it can be done only through IP address.

Currently, I am out of office, but after coming back and having a chat with the admin, I am going to update the post with further info.

Ceslav

[ThiCop]

Hello Ceslav,

Thanks for the quick update!

I'll be looking forward to your update later on.

[Ceslav]

Hi All,

Joining the domain writes the computer name to the DNS directly. Otherwise the name must be included manually. Apparently, the PXI system was written in the DNS under a very weird name, and I could not find it as it was not part of the domain. Now, I have a nice address name in the DNS (which I actually know), and can access the machine from everywhere.

Thanks to everyone for assistance.

[ThiCop]

Thanks for the update!