Containerization : using Docker and Kubernetes

[Philippe Van Eerdenbrugghe]

Hello, 

I would like to wrap the linux version of PTGUI v12 in a container in order to easily hide away all the system dependencies and easily run it in a Kubernetes cluster.

Until now, I have been running one windows server of PTGUI v11 which handles my stitching jobs but this does not scale well and it does not resist very well to system maintenance.

With the floating license system and the linux version, I've been thinking of leveraging the cloud capacity for easily starting/shutting down machines and not worry anymore of my server needing to upgrade, or having faults.

My mastery of Docker and Kubernetes is quite small so I've been wondering if anyone in the community could help me getting started in this journey, or maybe even had a Dockerfile working for PTGUI ? 

I'm also open to any advice about potential obstacles or any experience to be shared with me if someone  tried this journey before.

Finally, I would like to confirm that the floating license mechanism is indeed the correct license for such a usage :  one machine receiving stitching jobs, sometimes being shut down and another machine being started for handling the next jobs. Maybe at some point several machines working concurrently (in which case I would obvisouly buy several floating licenses). If floating licences are indeed suited for this usage, do you notify us when the license approach expiration ? What happens if I choose to autorenew but the payment fails for some reason ? 

Thank you for your help, 

[PTGui Support]

Hi Philippe,

Yes I think the floating license should work for your use case, although
I cannot offer support for Docker/Kubernetes issues.

When PTGui is launched it will grab the seat on that specific (virtual)
machine, and it will release it when PTGui is quit. If the instance is
aborted without closing PTGui correctly, the seat will remain tied to
that instance for 1 hour (see Q2.4 in the faq).

You'll need to store a copy of the licensed PTGui application somewhere
so it can be copied to the docker instance, it's not available for
download publicly. You can provision the license key via a
licensekey.json file as explained in 2.13:
https://ptgui.com/support.html#2_13

For the subscription licenses (including floating), two reminders will
be sent before expiration. If auto renewal is enabled but the payment
fails, it will remain working for one day; you would need to manually
renew. For a use case like this, manual renewal would be better. You can
renew at any time, renewal will extend the expire date with another year.

Keep in mind that PTGui is first and foremost a GUI application.
Automatic stitching is often possible but it may fail for example if a
scene contains images with only blue sky or a white wall. Manual
intervention would be needed in such a case (or accept stitching errors).

Hope this helps!

Kind regards,

Joost Nieuwenhuijse
www.ptgui.com

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "PTGui Support" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
> an email to ptgui+un...@googlegroups.com
> <mailto:ptgui+un...@googlegroups.com>.
> To view this discussion on the web visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ptgui/fbdb030a-35c5-458f-873a-70de3e99aecen%40googlegroups.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ptgui/fbdb030a-35c5-458f-873a-70de3e99aecen%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

[Philippe Van Eerdenbrugghe]

I've progressed in my path of using a docker container while using a floating license but now I'm stuck when I try to use the batch stitcher.

I get the following error (cf screenshot): 
    arguments to internal_bus_get() were incorrect, assertion "(error) == NULL || !dbus_error_is_set ((error))" failed in file ../../../dbus/dbus-bus.c line 426.

I have used the ubuntu 22.04 (platform linux/amd64) as a base image.
I do not have any dbus-daemon running, should I start one ? 

[PTGui Support]

Ah yes, PTGui uses DBus to prevent the desktop session from going to
sleep while a stitching job is running. You would need to add a dbus
daemon to the docker container.

I'll see if this can be made optional in a future version.

Kind regards,

Joost Nieuwenhuijse
www.ptgui.com

> www.ptgui.com <http://www.ptgui.com>

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ptgui/fbdb030a-35c5-458f-873a-70de3e99aecen%40googlegroups.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ptgui/fbdb030a-35c5-458f-873a-70de3e99aecen%40googlegroups.com> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ptgui/fbdb030a-35c5-458f-873a-70de3e99aecen%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ptgui/fbdb030a-35c5-458f-873a-70de3e99aecen%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>>.

>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "PTGui Support" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
> an email to ptgui+un...@googlegroups.com
> <mailto:ptgui+un...@googlegroups.com>.
> To view this discussion on the web visit

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ptgui/cc735a48-56aa-41ab-9fa2-cdaa2106d9edn%40googlegroups.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ptgui/cc735a48-56aa-41ab-9fa2-cdaa2106d9edn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.