Tips on Managing Many Lab Computers

[Lukin]

First let me give a little background.  I am the only developer in charge of a lab with about 10 different test systems each with its own computer.  In general I build a .exe to run tests from a day to day basis.  However for development and debug purpose each computer also has a copy of Labeled.  I have found it to be rather tedious to keep things like instrument drivers and toolkits (for example OpenG) updated on all of them.  I sit down to work on something just to find that something is missing and I spend 10min downloading and setting it up.  While this is not the end of the world it is still annoying.  

It seems like I can't be the first person to run in to this so I was wondering if there is some tool out there that might automate the updating process for me.  Has anyone run across something like this?  I think ideally something where I could create some type of default setup with everything I need for the entire lab in one package. That could then push it out to every computer would be ideal.  If there is nothing already out there I will just come up with something on my own but figured it might exist already.

Thanks in advance.

[crossrulz]

VI Package Manager (VIPM) is very useful for installing add-ons.

Tortoise SVN (a form of source control) is very useful for keeping projects in sync.

[_Bryan]

Just about all of my machines are not connected to the internet, so the norm for me is to pick a version of LabVIEW and make them all the same.  So unless it is something like a service pack or critical update I usually do not update them.  I agree keeping multiple computers up to date can be a fun process at times.  I am happy though that just about all of the LabVIEW 7 computers have died or been replaced, nothing like having to support multiple versions all over the place.

I will be waiting to hear other responses though....

[Lukin]

Thanks for the quick response.  

I guess I should add I am already using Tortoise SVN to keep the acutal code up todate.  The issue is with addons to LabVIEW like instrument drivers.  I am familar with VI Package manager for installing things and gave it a quick look but it did not seem to do what I want (or I missed it).  It is posible to use it to create a "master copy" of multiple instrument drivers and addons and just run that on all of my computers?  Perhaps this is not a feature of the free verson?

Thanks, 

[Mark_Yedinak]

Take a look at the Deploy toolkit from Wirebird Labs. I know Jack put some stuff in there for managing updates to distributions.

[kbbersch]

I have a repository just for the inst.lib folder in LabVIEW.  That's how I keep all the computers synced.  If I sit down to debug on a lab machine I just update the instrument driver folder with Tortoise SVN.  Anyone at a different site cna do the same thing and know their drivers are the same.

[Lukin]

Thanks everyone for the sugestions.  I like the idea of a TSVN repository for the inst.lib folder.  That is an easy way to keep that updated.  It would not have ouccred to me to have a folder in Program Files under TSVN but I can't think of a reason not to.  

I took a deeper look at VI Package Manger and it seem like it might also do the job but will require the paid version. I started a trial of the full version and I was able to make a configuration that has all of the toolkits installed from VI Package manager in it.  I can then just run this configuration on my test computers and it will put all of them on the test comptuer for me.  Pretty painless.  It seems like I can get the inst.lib to work this way as well but I have yet to make it work.  

Thanks again everyone.

[zaatari]

Hey Lukin,

I use BLT for LabVIEW to manage my executables. I use it primarily to control, license, distribute, and auto-update the executables for my customers. The software is easy to setup, and it will save you a lot of time. I highly recommend it. 

[Lukin]

Thanks zaatari.  It looks promising.  

[Mark_Yedinak]

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@zaatari wrote:

Hey Lukin,

I use BLT for LabVIEW to manage my executables. 

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How does a sandwich help manage multiple computers?