Deployment Options
Overview
Section titled “Overview”realvirtual WEB is delivered as a static set of browser files. You can host that set on your own web server, a CDN or infrastructure inside the machine network. No mandatory realvirtual cloud service is required to render and operate a prepared standalone twin.
Choose the deployment model from the machine owner’s availability, privacy and network requirements. Live PLC data and optional local services can be added through realvirtual CONNECT, while the viewer and model remain under your hosting control.
The four ways to run it
Section titled “The four ways to run it”There is no application server, no database and no runtime service anywhere in this list. The viewer is a folder of static files, and everything below is a different way of putting that folder in front of a browser.
| What runs | What you maintain | Live PLC data | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosted on the web | A web server or CDN serves the files | A hosting contract and a URL | Through a gateway at the machine |
| Local web server | Your own server, an IPC, an intranet share | The server, inside your network | Through a gateway in the same network |
| One-click executable | The gateway serves the viewer itself | One file on one PC | Built in |
| Local development | The Vite dev server on a developer machine | A Node.js toolchain | Through a local gateway |
Hosted on the web
Section titled “Hosted on the web”Upload the built folder to any HTTPS host — a CDN, a hoster, a company web server, an S3 bucket. The browser downloads the viewer and the GLB, and everything else happens on the visitor’s device.
This is the reach option: one link, any device, nothing installed. It is also the one to think about twice when the model is confidential, because whoever can reach the URL can download the model.
Local web server
Section titled “Local web server”The same folder, served from inside your own network: an intranet server, a machine IPC, a plant server, a NAS. Nothing leaves the site, no external hoster is involved, and an air-gapped network works exactly the same way — the files do not care whether the network has a route to the internet.
This is the usual choice for plant-wide monitoring and for anything that must keep working when the internet does not.
One-click executable
Section titled “One-click executable”realvirtual CONNECT carries the viewer inside its executable and serves it on http://localhost:5100. Download one file, run it, open the browser — no web server to install, no Node.js, no build step, and the live PLC connection is already part of the same process.
This is the shortest path from nothing to a running 3D HMI on a machine PC, and the natural form for a machine handed to a customer: one file, offline, unchanged for as long as it is archived. Details: where the viewer comes from.
Local development
Section titled “Local development”For building and adapting a twin, the viewer runs from source on a developer machine: clone the AGPL repository, npm install, npm run dev, and the Vite dev server serves the viewer at localhost with hot reload. Models dropped into the models folder appear in the selector.
Nothing about this path is special-cased: the same source produces the folder you later upload or embed, so what you see while developing is what you ship.
And in every case
Section titled “And in every case”- Frozen delivery — archive the tested viewer, model and documentation together as one versioned, self-contained release. See below.
- Open source — the viewer is AGPL-3.0; self-hosting is explicitly allowed, and what the licence asks in return is described under licensing the viewer.
Frozen delivery and EU availability
Section titled “Frozen delivery and EU availability”Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 applies from 20 January 2027. For digital instructions, it requires a way to download, print and store the documentation offline, and it places long-term availability responsibilities on the machine manufacturer. Online documentation must remain available for at least ten years after the machine is placed on the market, or for the expected machine lifetime when that is longer.
A frozen release supports this responsibility because the complete tested delivery can be archived, reproduced and moved to replacement hosting without depending on a continuously changing application service. It does not by itself establish regulatory compliance: the machine manufacturer remains responsible for the access information, retained version, availability period and any required paper or safety information.
Quick Start
Section titled “Quick Start”- Decide whether the twin must be public, intranet-only or air-gapped.
- Build and test one complete viewer, model and documentation file set.
- Publish that unchanged set to the chosen static host and record its release version.
- Verify the final URL, browser operation, downloads and offline-storage path from the target network.
- Archive the exact delivered files and define who maintains their long-term availability.