Installing OrcaFlex

Installation

OrcaFlex version 11.4c can be installed and run on any computer that has a 64 bit edition of Windows 10 or 11. OrcaFlex can be used to perform demanding calculations, so a powerful computer should be used if one is available. Hardware recommendations for OrcaFlex can be reviewed at https://www.orcina.com/support/hardwarerequirements/.

To install OrcaFlex:

You will need to install from an account with administrator privileges.
When you download OrcaFlex you obtain a zip file, and possibly a number of licence files named *.lic (or these may be contained within the zip file). Extract the contents of the zip file to some temporary location, and save the licence files (if you have them) to the same folder, then run the extracted file Setup.exe to begin the installation.
You will also need to licence your copy of OrcaFlex by either activating a FlexNet licence or installing an OrcaFlex dongle, either of which will be supplied by Orcina.

For further details, including information on network and silent installation, see the file Installation Guide.pdf in (or extracted from) the zip. If you have any difficulty installing OrcaFlex please contact Orcina or your Orcina agent.

Orcina shell extension

When you install OrcaFlex the Orcina shell extension is also installed. This integrates with Windows Explorer, and associates the data and simulation file types (.dat and .sim) with OrcaFlex. You can then open an OrcaFlex file by simply double-clicking the filename in Explorer. The shell extension also provides file properties information, such as which version of OrcaFlex wrote the file and the comments text for the model in the file.

Licensing

OrcaFlex supports two different licensing systems, software-based (FlexNet) and hardware dongles. FlexNet licensing was introduced with OrcaFlex 11.0: any earlier versions can use only dongle licences, while 11.0 onwards can use either type. You can, if you wish, have a mix of both types of licence, in which case you may tell OrcaFlex which to use or prefer by means of a command-line parameter.

FlexNet

FlexNet Publisher (formerly FLEXlm) is a software-based licensing system which does not need any hardware device such as a dongle; instead, licences are stored on either your machine (local licences) or a server to which you have network access (floating licences), in a protected area of disk set aside as trusted storage. Various properties of the machine are used to uniquely identify it and associate it with the licences in trusted storage.

FlexNet licences are activated by entering a code (the activation ID) into the OrcaLicense utility program: different editions of OrcaLicense are required for local and server licences, so you should take care that you have the correct edition.

FlexNet licensing requires a licensing service to be running on the same machine as OrcaFlex. When OrcaFlex is installed it will offer to install this service – if you intend using FlexNet you should install the service at this point. The OrcaLicense installer will also install this service.

Dongles

A dongle is a small hardware device that must be connected to the machine or to the network to which the machine is connected. Orcina dongles are usually labelled Nxxx or Hxxx (e.g. N462); each is unique. OrcaFlex requires both the dongle and a corresponding (version-dependent) licence file Nxxx.lic or Hxxx.lic.

Note:

The dongle is effectively your licence to run one copy (or more, if the dongle is enabled for more copies) of OrcaFlex. It is, in essence, what you have purchased or leased, and it should be treated with appropriate care and security. If you lose your dongle you cannot run OrcaFlex.

Warning:

We will replace a damaged or faulty dongle with a new one, but only if the old dongle is returned to us.

Dongles are USB devices which can be plugged into the machine which runs OrcaFlex ("local mode"), or (other than old ones labelled Hnnn) can be hosted on a server ("network mode") and accessed over a network by OrcaFlex on client machines, allowing OrcaFlex to be shared by multiple users. In the latter case the dongle should be installed by your network administrator; instructions can be found in the OrcaDongle help. By default, dongles can hold up to 10 licences; we can supply them with larger capacities on request.

The dongle requires a device driver to be installed on any machine to which it is connected. Windows may do this installation automatically for you when you plug in the dongle; alternatively, you can choose to install the device driver when you install OrcaFlex, or you can obtain the latest version of the driver from www.orcina.com/support/licencesupport/.

We supply a dongle utility program called OrcaDongle. This can be used to add or remove licences to or from your dongle, to switch between local and network modes, and to report the licence information contained on the dongle. You can download an installer for OrcaDongle from www.orcina.com/support/licencesupport/.

Diagnostics

If OrcaFlex fails to start, with the error that it cannot obtain a licence, then please check the following.

If you are using a network licence, are all the licences in use? The Orcina licence monitor may be of use here, it reports which machines and users are claiming licences (both FlexNet and dongles).
If you are using a local dongle, is it plugged into your machine? If so, is the dongle device driver installed? You can check this by running OrcaDongle. If the driver is not present, you can get it from our website. Do you have a licence on the dongle? Again, OrcaDongle will tell you. Do you have a licence file, named *.lic (where * is the dongle number), in the OrcaFlex installation folder?
If you are using a local FlexNet licence, is there one present? Run OrcaLicense to check this and that it is trusted and enabled. Note that FlexNet licences are version-specific: they will allow use by any earlier version of OrcaFlex (not pre-11.0), but not a later version.

If none of these help, then please contact us at Orcina with a description of the problem. Ideally, please also email to us the diagnostics file named OrcLog.txt which OrcaFlex will have written on failing to find a licence. This file can be found in the folder %appdata%\Orcina\OrcaFlex. To open this folder, select Start menu | Run… (or Windows key and 'R') and enter this folder name including the % characters.