# Network Issues | Top Previous Next

Note: This section is only relevant if you have the Network module. 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 FluidFlow3 on your network server, select "Network Server" from the Installation Kind, when prompted. 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 (below) for information about configuring your FluidFlow3 network installation. •Activate FluidFlow3 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 FluidFlow3 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' button. See NOTE 2 (below) for information about activating your FluidFlow3 network installation. •Start FluidFlow3 on your server – username: Administrator; password: psff •Select the 'Database | Configure Users…' menu item and add your FluidFlow3 users. •Provide your users with a link to PSFF.EXE on your server. See NOTE 3 (below) for information about sharing your FluidFlow3 application folder and creating a shortcut link. NOTE 1: Configuring your Network Installation (Sharing Folders and Setting Permissions) When you install FluidFlow3 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 FluidFlow3 that users need to have read-write access to for the application to function correctly. The FluidFlow3 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 FluidFlow3 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 selecting "Network Server" from the Installation Kind options (when you run FF3SETUP.EXE) - 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 FluidFlow3 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\FluidFlow3" folder instead. To do this: right-mouse click the "[Public Documents]\Flite\FluidFlow3" 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 FluidFlow3 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 FluidFlow3 There are a few ways to activate FluidFlow3, 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 FluidFlow3 License Manager. Activating FluidFlow3 (via the FluidFlow3 License Manager - FluidFlow3LM.EXE): NOTE: Depending on the version of your existing installation, you may not have this application. It can be downloaded from https://portal.fluidflowinfo.com/ffdownloads/v3/FluidFlow3LM.zip. Unzip this to the same folder as the FluidFlow3 application (PSFF.EXE) on your server. •Ensure that FluidFlow3 is not running on the server machine. •Start the FluidFlow3 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' button. Activating FluidFlow3 (via Activation Code): •Start FluidFlow3 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 FluidFlow3. NOTE: You can generate the Activation Code yourself by logging into your account on our server: •Start FluidFlow3 on the server machine and get the Product Id from the 'Help | Activate FluidFlow…' menu item. •Log in to your account on our server (https://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 FluidFlow3 and restart the application. Activating FluidFlow3 (via License File - FF3.LIC): •Start FluidFlow3 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 FluidFlow3. •Copy the FF3.LIC License file to the NetworkAccessFolder on the server. •Restart FluidFlow3. NOTE: The location of the "NetworkAccessFolder" is specified in the PSFF.INI file. NOTE 3: Client Setup After installing and activating FluidFlow3 on the network server you can setup the client machine by placing a link on the client's desktop to the FluidFlow3 application (PSFF.EXE). For a client to be able to access the FluidFlow3 application, the folder it is located in on the server must be shared for read access. Typically FluidFlow3 is installed into the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Flite\FluidFlow3" folder on your server. To share this folder as FluidFlow3App, for example: right-mouse click the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Flite\FluidFlow3" 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'. # # Help Files on the Network # Security updates to Microsoft Windows have introduced some severe restrictions for accessing HTML Help (CHM) files across network drives. Under Windows most file links in HTML Help files will now generally not work at all and HTML Help itself is also severely restricted. Without registry changes on the user's computer, HTML Help now cannot be used at all on networks. This has an effect on the FluidFlow3 Network Version as all client machines that try to display the Help file will receive a "Page not found" message. More details and a fix for this problem are available on the Help & Manual (http://www.helpandmanual.com/products_hhreg.html) website. Alternatively, there is a workaround to allow a client machine to display Network-based HTML Help files, but it does involve modifying the Registry on the client machine. To do this: 1. Click 'Start', click 'Run', type 'regedit', and then click 'OK'. 2. Locate and then click the following subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions Note: If this registry subkey does not exist, create it. To do this, follow these steps: a. On the 'Edit' menu, point to 'New', and then click 'Key'. b. Type 'ItssRestrictions', and then press 'ENTER'. 4. Right-click the ItssRestrictions subkey, point to 'New', and then click 'DWORD Value'. 5. Type 'MaxAllowedZone', and then press 'ENTER'. 6. Right-click the MaxAllowedZone value, and then click 'Modify'. 7. In the Value data box, type '1', and then click 'OK'. This will allow you to access CHM files on a shared network folder. For more information see: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=896054 Note: Always make a backup of the Registry before making any modifications so that you can 'rollback' the changes if anything goes awry. To do this, run Regedit, select the 'File | Export' menu item, select the 'All' option from 'Export Range', enter a filename and click 'Save'. You can later use the 'File | Import' menu item if you want to revert to your original Registry. # Help Files on the Network - Alternative Solution FluidFlow3 also supports browser-based help. If you wish to use this please download the FF3BHELP.ZIP file from our website - https://portal.fluidflowinfo.com/ffdownloads/v3/FF3BHelp.zip - and unzip it to the FluidFlow3\Help folder to give \FluidFlow3\Help\FFEnglish and \FluidFlow3\Help\QuickStart folders. For FluidFlow3 to use this, create PSFF.INI (if it does not already exist) in the same folder as PSFF.EXE and add an Options | UseBrowserHTMLHelp entry: [Options] UseBrowserHTMLHelp=1 # Troubleshooting # # The most usual issues reported for network installations and their resolutions are given below: 1. Unable to Activate This is because you are trying to activate from a client machine. This is not possible because you are running the application in the client workspace and not the server workspace. For the purpose of activation ONLY, you can overcome this issue by connecting to the server via remote desktop (terminal services, citrix etc) or being physically present at the server to activate. So to activate a network version, run the application via remote desktop, or be physically at the server. Another possible reason for "unable to activate" is because you do not have the correct read/write/modify permissions to the folder (and all sub folders) where FluidFlow is installed. 2. "User Limit [1] reached. No more users allowed." message always displayed no matter how many licenses. This is caused by the incorrect sharing of the FluidFlow folder. For more information see the Network Installation section above.