Can Zoo run on a NAS?

Zoo
1

continuation of the thread in the old forum (see below) …

At least on Intel x86 Qnap devices you can install the “Mono” app on the NAS to get .NET: “Mono provides .NET Framework environment to run ASP-based websites on Linux”. Not sure if this helps … (For further indepth info they offer support for developers on their website - - I am just a user with a weird idea :wink:

Mirko

Hi,

We have a small office with only a few computers running Rhino, but in
a world of cloud computing we have no server in the office - just a
NAS. I am curious if there are any ideas around installing the Zoo on
a NAS (Qnap or Synology in particular)? I know Qnap only, but there at
least it is possible to install 3rd party apps.

So far we have to power up a computer for Zoo only (yes, sometimes
somebody is working on this PC as well - but not allways).

Just a (green) thought.

Cheers, Mirko

Reply by John Brock on June 27, 2013 at 2:16pm Zoo needs to
be running on a computer as a Service. The NAS on it’s own does not
have an adequate operating system to run a Microsoft Service. I
suppose the NAS could be used for the file storage but there’s no need
since the Zoo itself and the license files are so tiny. It might also
not respond fast enough for the timers in the Zoo. Just run the Zoo on
a Workstation that will be running anytime you want to run Rhino, even
one of the Rhino workstations.

Reply by Mirko on June 27, 2013 at 3:30pm Delete Hi John, yes - I
totally understand that the current Zoo as-it-is will not run on a
NAS. Maybe it’s more something for a wish list.

There are however some quite powerfull NAS around (one of which we
use) that need to support working right on the NAS drives with several
clients. I assume these types of NAS would have enough processing
capacity to run a service like Zoo.

Some food for thoughts may be
QNAP | Experts in NAS, Networking, and Smart Surveillance (I am not working for
Qnap - I just happen to be an owner of one of their products, I am
sure other NAS makers have similar functionalities).

Reply by Dale Fugier on July 2, 2013 at 11:40am It’s doubtful that any of
the NAS operating systems support .NET, which is required by Zoo 5.

– Dale

2

I believe ZOO has a lot of windows dependencies.

It might be better to find an old machine lying around, drop windows xp on it, install a very aggressive firewall on it (so bug patches won’t be an issue), and put zoo on it.

Just an idea.

3

You may be able to install the zoo on an Amazon EC2 or Microsoft Azure computer. I don’t think we’ve tried this yet; @dale do you see any problems with this approach?

4

No I don’t, although like @stevebaer says, we have not tried this.

The Zoo does have a lot of Windows dependencies. It runs as a Windows Service, and it uses the .NET Framework 4.

5

The biggest complication installing the Zoo on a cloud machine (EC2, and the like) is that you’ll have to also get a private VPN connection between your office and the Zoo. This is not always trivial.

Failing to do so will leave your licenses available for the world to see and use, and there currently are no controls to force Rhino to do authentication o communicate over HTTPS - two things I would consider a must for a public server to be used.