# Sharing dongles over LAN and Internet



## rpaillot (Jan 7, 2013)

Hi 

I've just came across this very interesting piece of software called USB network gate and wanted to share with you.

http://www.eltima.com/products/usb-over-network-mac/

It's a cross platform ( mac / pc / linux ) software that lets you share any usb devices, dongles included , over a lan network or even better, over internet ! 
Very useful if you're often travelling between different studios and dont want to lose your dongles or break them. 

I've tried the demo with a steinberg elicenser key, containing a cubase 7 license, and it works perfectly.
Also tried with ILOK and a few EW play licenses, and got no problems.
All this between a mac and a mac. But you apparently can share from a PC to a MAC and vice-versa.

Sharing over internet needs a bit of port forwarding which are the following : 

Fixed ports to forward : 5473 ( TCP ) , 5474 ( UDP ) , 5475 ( tcp and udp ) 

Variable ports for each dongle you share : xxxx ( TCP and UDP ) 

Have a try , it's just awesome!

Romain


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## Caedwallon (Jan 7, 2013)

The Windows version has been around for a while. I've tried it with the iLok and it does work. I'm interested in hearing PACE or Steinberg's opinion/stance on using a "USB Network Gate" to remotely access their dongles. I'm hoping that they are in our favour.

Thanks for sharing. Cheers.


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## rpaillot (Jan 7, 2013)

Caedwallon @ Mon Jan 07 said:


> The Windows version has been around for a while. I've tried it with the iLok and it does work. I'm interested in hearing PACE or Steinberg's opinion/stance on using a "USB Network Gate" to remotely access their dongles. I'm hoping that they are in our favour.
> 
> Thanks for sharing. Cheers.



I hope too. 
The fact you can't use the dongle on the host anymore when it's shared is in our favor I think


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## Caedwallon (Jan 7, 2013)

rpaillot @ 7th January said:


> I hope too. The fact you can't use the dongle on the host anymore when it's shared is in our favor I think


This seems to be the main reason why neither PACE or Steinberg are against this software. I've tried it PC-PC and Mac-Mac. Unless I'm mistaken, it isn't possible to use the dongles on multiple systems on the same network either. Another point in favour? These limitations make the software seem less "cool", though.


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## EgM (Feb 8, 2018)

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I felt I'd share my experience with a similar technology from http://www.virtualhere.com . I've hooked both my elicenser and ilok on it and it actually works!!

I've tried the Virtualhere server on Windows and it wouldn't work on my machine, but it worked perfectly on my Raspberry Pi2 that wasn't being used since upgrading to Pi3.

The demo is free to share one USB device so it might be of use to people with many machines like me.

*** EDIT:

After one hour, Cubase hung and I had to force quit it - couldn't restart it without rebooting machine.


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## esounds (Feb 8, 2018)

EgM said:


> Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I felt I'd share my experience with a similar technology from http://www.virtualhere.com . I've hooked both my elicenser and ilok on it and it actually works!!
> 
> I've tried the Virtualhere server on Windows and it wouldn't work on my machine, but it worked perfectly on my Raspberry Pi2 that wasn't being used since upgrading to Pi3.
> 
> The demo is free to share one USB device so it might be of use to people with many machines like me.



That would be really helpful.....I will try it.


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## EgM (Feb 8, 2018)

esounds said:


> That would be really helpful.....I will try it.



Hmmm... Don't buy anyway :( After one hour in Cubase, it hung and couldn't find the dongle anymore - had to reboot.


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## esounds (Feb 10, 2018)

EgM said:


> Hmmm... Don't buy anyway :( After one hour in Cubase, it hung and couldn't find the dongle anymore - had to reboot.




We tried it and did not have good luck......last thing I need is instability.


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