Overview

The Zoo lets you share Rhino, Flamingo, Penguin, and Bongo licenses (CD-Keys) among users on the same network workgroup. Zoo 4.0 is designed to work with Rhino 4.0 CD-Keys as well as CD-Keys from earlier versions of Rhino, Flamingo, Bongo and Penguin.

Zoo 4.0 supports two different network topologies:

1. Small Network:

The Zoo and all Rhino client computers are inside the same network subnet, virtual LAN and behind the same firewall. The Zoo works with all Rhino client computers without any additional network configuration.

2. Routed Network:

The Zoo is on the other side of a router from Rhino client computers, and Rhino client computers can be in different network segments, behind different routers, and on different virtual LANs. In order for Rhino to find the Zoo, additional network or client computer configuration is required. See Configuring Zoo to work on Routed Networks below for more details.

Zoo 4.0 can run with existing Zoo 1.0 installations:

1. Primary mode: Zoo 4.0 is the only Zoo running on your network. It handles requests for all types of CD-Keys, including Rhino 4.0 CD-keys.

2. Secondary mode: Zoo 4.0 runs along with a previous version of the Zoo on your network. In secondary mode, Zoo 4.0 only handles requests for Rhino 4.0 CD-Keys. Secondary mode is useful for testing the Zoo without disrupting an existing Zoo configuration that you know to work well. See "Configuring Secondary mode"Zoo40Installation#SecondaryMode below for details.

Installation

If you are installing on a system that is already running a prior version of the Zoo, you will need to stop the Zoo before installing Zoo 4.0.
If the Zoo 4.0 installer detects that a previous release of the Zoo installed on the system, it will default to installing in the same folder as the previous release. If you are intending to run Zoo 4.0 in Secondary Mode, make sure you do not install it into the same folder as a previous release.
If you install Zoo 4.0 into the same folder as a previous release, the installer will make backup copies of both the previous release of Zoo (Zoo.exe) and its license file (Zoo.key). Also, the first time you run Zoo 4.0, it will automatically import the old licenses.

Configuration

Configuring Primary mode (default)

Start Zoo 4.0
Add your CD-Keys to Zoo 4.0, including any Rhino 3.0, Penguin, Bongo, or Flamingo keys you plan to use.
Add Zoo 4.0 to your start-up programs list.
Remove Zoo 1.0 from your start-up programs list.

Configuring Secondary Mode:

Stop Zoo 1.0 or 1.1.
Start Zoo 4.0.
Select Tools->Options and enable (check) the "Disable support for legacy licenses" option.
Stop and restart Zoo 4.0.
Add your CD-Keys to Zoo 4.0. Note, you can add CD-Keys for previous versions of Rhino too. But, Zoo 4.0 will not distribute these licenses as long as the above option is set.
Start Zoo 1.0 or 1.1.
Add Zoo 4.0 to your start-up programs list.

Configuring Zoo to work on Routed Networks

By default, Rhino looks for the Zoo by broadcasting a message on your network. This works great inside one VLan or subnet, so long as all the computers are on the same side of the router. But if you have multiple VLans, you'll need additional configuration for this to work.

Routed Network Configuration Options

Select only one of the following configuration options:

DNS: Set up a DNS txt record on your DNS servers. This allows Rhino to find the Zoo without any additional configuration on the client.
Registry Keys: Create a registry key on each client machine. If you do not have DNS, or you do not have the ability to change DNS, this is your option.

To set up DNS:

Determine the name of the domain to which each client belongs. Right-click My Computer, then click Properties. The Domain name is listed in the Computer Name tab of the System Properties dialog box.
On the primary DNS server for your domain, create a new TXT record with the format Zoo4=<hostname> where <hostname> is the NETBIOS host name. For example if the Fully Qualified host name is "ZooServer.bcn.es.mycorp.com", and the domain is "bcn.es.mycorp.com", then the NETBIOS host name is ZooServer.
Test the DNS configuration from the client using ZooDnsResolver tool included in the Zoo Bonus Tools.

To set up Registry Keys on each computer:

On each computer that runs Rhino 4.0, create the following registry key if it does not already exist: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\McNeel\RhinoLM
In the RhinoLM key, create a new String Value named zoo4.
Set the data for the zoo4 value to the NETBIOS host name for the Zoo server. For example if the Fully Qualified host name is "ZooServer.bcn.es.mycorp.com", and the domain is "bcn.es.mycorp.com", then the NETBIOS host name is ZooServer.
For assistance in creating this Registry Key, use the "SetZooServer" tool included in the Zoo Bonus Tools.

Miscellaneous:

The Zoo was not designed to work across a WAN. With that said, some people have been able to tweak their network settings and get it to work. However we have not tested or certified that configuration in house.

Here are the basic requirements:

Make sure all machines are a member of the same Windows Domain.
Not recommended: On all firewalls, open UDP Ports 137 and 138, as well as TCP Port 139. Note that this is a major security vulnerability. We do not recommend opening these ports to general internet access. Search the internet for "netbios security vulnerabilities" to learn more.

We recommend a VPN that will assigns a unique IP to each machine.

The Zoo may not be compatible with Network Address Translation (NAT). We haven't done an exhaustive test to determine whether it works or not.

Make sure only one Zoo is running on the domain. Most Zoo problems occur because there is another test Zoo (sometime on the same machine that is trying to run Rhino) causing problems with Mailsot collisions

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