Installation Instructions
- Download FF3SETUP.EXE, and either physically at your server, or connecting via Remote Desktop Connection (or similar software), run the installation application.
- When installing FluidFlow on your network server, select Yes when prompted “Are you installing on a NETWORK server?” This will create a PSFF.INI (text) file, with a NetworkAccessFolder entry that points to the location of the license file on your server.
See NOTE 1 for information about configuring your FluidFlow network installation.
- Activate FluidFlow on your network server to create the license file in the folder pointed to by PSFF.INI | NetworkAccessFolder.
Note: You will need to do this either physically directly at the server machine, or via Terminal Services/RDC.
To “activate”:
- Start the FluidFlow License Manager (FluidFlow3LM.EXE) located in the same folder as PSFF.EXE on your server.
- Go to the ‘Activate’ page.
- Enter:
- Username: ******
- Password: ******
- Click the ‘Activate FluidFlow3’ button.
See NOTE 2 for information about activating your FluidFlow network installation.
- Start FluidFlow on your server – username: Administrator; password: PSFF
- Select the ‘Database | Configure Users…’ menu item and add your FluidFlow users.
- Provide your users with a link to PSFF.EXE on your server.
See NOTE 3 for information about sharing your FluidFlow application folder and creating a shortcut link.
NOTE 1: Configuring your Network Installation (Sharing Folders and Setting Permissions)
When you install FluidFlow the setup program creates a configuration text file - PSFF.INI - in the same folder as the application (PSFF.EXE), typically in “C:\Program Files (x86)\Flite\FluidFlow3”.
This file will contain three entries: the location of the equipment data (DataFolder); the location of the user preferences (PreferencesFolder), and the location of the license file (NetworkAccessFolder). These are the only folders in FluidFlow that users need to have read-write access to for the application to function correctly. The FluidFlow application folder requires only read access.
FYI: The DataFolder needs to be read-write so that you can edit Line Equipment items such as Valves and Boosters via the ‘Databases’ menu items. The PreferencesFolder is where FluidFlow stores user-specific settings, e.g., ‘Options | Calculation’. The NetworkAccessFolder is where the application tracks who is logged on against what is valid for the license.
The PSFF.INI entries default to folders under “[Public Documents]\Flite”. The “Public Documents” folder is typically “C:\Users\Public\Documents”. You can determine where it is on your machine by putting %PUBLIC% into the address bar of Windows Explorer.
When you do a network installation– by answering Yes to the “Are you installing on a NETWORK server?” prompt - your PSFF.INI will look like:
[Options]
DataFolder=\\YourServer\C$\Users\Public\Documents\Flite\FluidFlow3\Data
PreferencesFolder=\\YourServer\C$\Users\Public\Documents\Flite\FluidFlow3\Preferences
NetworkAccessFolder=\\YourServer\C$\Users\Public\Documents\Flite\FluidFlow3
Note: YourServer will be replaced by the name of your server machine.
IMPORTANT: This is where an issue might arise as FluidFlow assumes the C drive will be shared when you perform a network installation. We would recommend that you do not share the C drive itself, but share the “[Public Documents]\Flite\FluidFlow” folder instead.
To do this: right-mouse click the “[Public Documents]\Flite\FluidFlow” folder name in Windows Explorer. Select ‘Properties | Sharing | Advanced Sharing’ and check the ‘Share this folder’ option:
Click the ‘Permissions’ button and give full control to the ‘Everyone’ group:
If you share the FluidFlow folder (as described above), you need to modify PSFF.INI to reflect that. For example:
[Options]
DataFolder=\\YourServer\FluidFlow3\Data
PreferencesFolder=\\YourServer\FluidFlow3\Preferences
NetworkAccessFolder=\\YourServer\FluidFlow3
NOTE 2: Activating FluidFlow
There are a few ways to activate FluidFlow, however, for a Network license activation, you do need to have access to the server machine (either physically, or via Terminal Server/Remote Desktop Connection/similar software.) This access is required to be able to get the correct Product Id (i.e., the Hard Disk Serial No.) for the server, or to run the FluidFlow License Manager.
Activating FluidFlow (via the FluidFlow License Manager - FluidFlow3LM.EXE):
NOTE: Depending on the version of your existing installation, you may not have this application. It can be downloaded from http://portal.fluidflowinfo.com/ffdownloads/v3/FluidFlow3LM.zip. Unzip this to the same folder as the FluidFlow application (PSFF.EXE) on your server.
- Ensure that FluidFlow is not running on the server machine.
- Start the FluidFlow License Manager (FluidFlow3LM.EXE) on the server machine (either physically or remotely logging in.)
- Select the ‘Activate’ page, and enter your Username and Password. Please contact sales@fluidflowinfo.com (or your local distributor) for your Username and Password, if you do not have them.
- Click the ‘Activate FluidFlow3’ button.
Activating FluidFlow3 (via Activation Code):
- Start FluidFlow on the server machine (either physically or remotely logging in.)
- Select the ‘Help | Activate FluidFlow…’ menu item and make a note of the Product Id.
- Send this Product Id to sales@fluidflowinfo.com (or your local distributor) and an Activation Code will be generated and emailed back to you.
- In the ‘Activate FluidFlow’ dialog, paste the code into the ‘Activation Code’ input area, along with the ‘Registration Name’ provided.
- Restart FluidFlow.
NOTE: You can generate the Activation Code yourself by logging into your account on our server:
- Start FluidFlow on the server machine and get the Product Id from the ‘Help | Activate FluidFlow…’ menu item.
- Log in to your account on our server (http://portal.fluidflowinfo.com/portal/login.php). Please contact sales@fluidflowinfo.com (or your local distributor) for your Username and Password, if you do not have them.
- Select ‘Generate Code’ from the ‘Your Info’ drop-down.
- Ensure the correct Product Id is entered.
- Click the ‘Generate Activation Code’ button.
- Copy and paste the generated code into the ‘Activate FluidFlow’ dialog in FluidFlow and restart the application.
Activating FluidFlow (via License File - FF3.LIC):
- Start FluidFlow on the server machine (either physically or remotely logging in.)
- Select the ‘Help | Activate FluidFlow…’ menu item and make a note of the Product Id.
- Send this Product Id to sales@fluidflowinfo.com and a License File (FF3.LIC) will be created and emailed back to you.
- Stop FluidFlow.
- Copy the FF3.LIC License file to the NetworkAccessFolder on the server.
- Restart FluidFlow.
NOTE: The location of the “NetworkAccessFolder” is specified in the PSFF.INI file.
NOTE 3: Client Setup (Sharing the Application Folder/Creating Shortcut)
After installing and activating FluidFlow on the network server you can setup the client machine by placing a link on the client's desktop to the FluidFlow application (PSFF.EXE).
For a client to be able to access the FluidFlow application, the folder it is located in on the server must be shared for read access. Typically FluidFlow is installed into the “C:\Program Files (x86)\Flite\FluidFlow” folder on your server.
To share this folder as FluidFlow3App, for example: right-mouse click the “C:\Program Files (x86)\Flite\FluidFlow” folder name in Windows Explorer. Select ‘Properties | Sharing | Advanced Sharing’ and check the ‘Share this folder’ option:
Click the ‘Permissions’ button and allow ‘Read’ for the ‘Everyone’ group:
You can now create a shortcut link that clients can use:
- Right-click on the desktop and select the 'New | Shortcut' menu item.
- Enter the location of the PSFF.EXE file, e.g., '\\YourServer\FluidFlow3App\PSFF.exe' and click 'Next'.
- Enter the title for the shortcut, e.g., 'FluidFlow3 (Network)' and click 'Finish'.