Distributed OrcaFlex

Distributed OrcaFlex consists of three separate programs. A Distributed OrcaFlex client program is run on each machine available to run jobs (each such machine must have an OrcaFlex license). One machine on the network runs a Distributed OrcaFlex server program that coordinates the list of jobs to be run and allocates jobs to the clients. Finally, a Distributed OrcaFlex viewer program can be run on any machine. This viewer program displays the current list of jobs and their current status (e.g. pending, running, completed etc.) and allows jobs to be submitted and stopped.

Each client can be enabled (willing to accept jobs) or disabled (set to refuse jobs) at any time. Also, a client currently running a job can be told to abort the job, and the server will then reallocate the job to a different client where it will restart from the latest stored state.

When the client program is allocated a job it runs the job but it does so at low operating system priority. The effect of this is that the job runs as a background task that does not significantly interfere with other tasks on that machine. So if the machine is otherwise idle (e.g. at night) then the job will run at maximum speed, but if a user is working on the machine then they do not notice significant degradation in performance since their work takes priority and the Distributed OrcaFlex job only runs when the machine has done the user's work. There is therefore normally no need to disable clients.

Downloading and Installing Distributed OrcaFlex

The latest version of Distributed OrcaFlex is 3.2e which can be installed by following these steps:

1. Download DOF Manual.pdf (272 KB) which contains documentation for Distributed OrcaFlex including an installation guide.
2. Download DistributedOrcaFlex.zip (4.9 MB), unzip the contents, and run the extracted file Setup.exe.

Note: During the installation you will be prompted for a set of credentials for the Client service to run under. We recommend that you create a new user, for example, DOFUser that can then be used for all installations of the Distributed OrcaFlex client. This user should be created before you begin the installation and only be used for the Distributed OrcaFlex client service. This user must have “Log on as a service” rights and have been granted enough rights to be able to read and write all areas of the network filing system that jobs may be submitted from including the location of the default OrcFxAPI.DLL files. The "Log on as a service" right is normally set by group policy on the domain controller.

Note: Due to limitations of Windows Installer, if you apply this MSI as an upgrade to an already installed earlier version of Distributed OrcaFlex, you may be required to reboot your machine to complete the installation. You can avoid this by uninstalling the earlier version (or simply stopping the services to be upgraded) before installing the new version.

What's New

Version 3.2c – e

• Minor bug fixes.

• Can now handle significantly larger numbers of jobs (>20,000)

• The “Add File” dialog has been redesigned so you can now specify if an analysis should be statics or dynamics.
• When running statics, Distributed OrcaFlex will now export Shear7 output files for all lines that include Shear7 in statics.

• The Distributed OrcaFlex Client now runs as a windows service, no longer requiring a user to have logged into the machine before processing of jobs can begin.
• Load balancing has been improved allowing jobs to be moved from a faster, heavily loaded machines to slower, but underutilised machines.
• Memory footprint has been significantly reduced (requires OrcaFlex 9.3 or greater).
• Improved user control over how many jobs a Distributed OrcaFlex client will take on.