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IDEA Pulse Programming

Siemens IDEA pulse programming service

IDEA Virtual Machine Server

The Siemens IDEA toolchain requires the use of unsupported legacy Microsoft Windows with virtual machines on Intel/AMD hardware. Due to the risks involved with continued use of an unsupported Windows version we provide a controlled research environment, accessed through a web server.

Registering for the service

Before you can use the facility you need to contact computing-help@win.ox.ac.uk to request access to the system, we will enable your WIN computing account and allocate you one of the available virtual machines (of which there are ten).

Accessing the server

Once your account has been enabled you can visit the following URL:

https://idea.services.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/

Login using your WIN computing account and your should automatically be taken to your Windows 11 environment. Details on how to use the IDEA tools is not covered here, and you are referred to the appropriate physics support person for advice.

The web base virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is powered by Guacamole. Detailed useage instructions are available in the Guacamole User Guide.

This service supports drag/drop of files to/from the remote server and clipboard transfer. Files up/downloaded via this method will be removed from the server after 24 hours.

Start/Stop/Restart your VDI

Restarting your VDI can be achieved using the Windows menu, during the reboot phase Guacamole will return you to a holding page and will automatically reconnect once Windows is running again.

You will occasionally need to manually start/stop your VDI, for example if you find it isn't running when you return to it at a later date or if you know you will not be using it for a month or more. To do this you should connect to the virtualisation server over SSH whilst on the FMRIB ethernet or VPN:

ssh <winusername>@phyvm.services.fmrib.ox.ac.uk

 

Troubleshooting

If you find that Guacamole reports that it is unable to connect to your VDI then it is likely that the VM has shut down, usually the result of automatic Windows update installation. Please use the steps above to start the VM again and if this fails please contact computing-help@win.ox.ac.uk for advice.