Connecting to a Remote hw_server Running on a Lab Machine - 2024.2 English - 2024.1 English

Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Programming and Debugging (UG908)

Document ID
UG908
Release Date
2024-11-13
Version
2024.2 English

If you have a network connection to your lab machine, you can also connect to the target board by connecting to a hardware server that is running on that remote lab machine. For security reasons, the hw_server launched within the Vivado IDE only listens on the loop-back adapter (for example, localhost, or 127.0.0.1). For remote access, launch the hw_server manually.

The following steps explain how to use the Vivado logic analyzer feature to connect to a Vivado hardware server (hw_server.bat on Windows platforms or hw_server on Linux platforms) that is running on the lab machine:

  1. Install the latest version of the Vivado Design Suite or Vivado hardware server (standalone) on the lab machine.
    Important: You do not need to install the full Vivado Design Suite or Vivado Lab Edition on the lab machine to only use the remote hardware server feature. However, if you want to use the Vivado Hardware Manager features (such as the Vivado logic analyzer or Vivado serial I/O analyzer) on the lab machine, you need to install the Vivado Lab Edition on the lab machine. You do not need any software licenses to run the hardware server, any of the Hardware Manager features, or the Vivado Lab Edition.
  2. Start up the hw_server application on the remote lab machine. Assuming you installed the Vivado hardware server (standalone) to the default location and your lab machine is a 64-bit Windows machine, the file path is as follows:
    C:\Xilinx\VivadoHWSRV\vivado_release.version\bin\hw_server.bat
  3. Start the Vivado IDE in GUI mode on a different machine than your lab machine.
  4. Follow the steps in Connecting to the Hardware Target and Programming the Device section to open a connection to the target board that is connected to your lab machine. However, instead of connecting to a Vivado CSE server running on localhost, use the hostname of your lab machine.
  5. Follow the steps in Setting up the ILA Core to Take a Measurement section and beyond to debug your design in hardware.