Getting Started

Getting Started
The goal of this brochure is to get you using your PSCAD software as quickly as possible. Please look over the sections on hardware/ software requirements and supported FORTRAN compilers before proceeding.

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

The following are the recommended specifications. Category Operating System1 Additional Software Peripherals Supported Microsoft Windows XP32 Pro SP2, XP64 Pro Microsoft Windows Vista 32, Vista 64 Microsoft Windows 7 Intel Visual Fortran Microsoft.NET Framework 3.52 One USB port3

Personal computers configured with slower processors and lesser RAM may be used, but slower execution performance will result. In other words, simulation speed increases with processor speed and amount of RAM.

SCOPE BOUNDARIES
Any boundaries imposed on your projects will depend mainly on which PSCAD edition you are using. The following tables list the most commonly encountered boundaries.
1 PSCAD is a 32-bit application, but will operate on 64-bit platforms, provided the 64-bit hardware drivers are installed for the hardware lock (SUL or if the License Manager is installed). 2 The PSCAD X4 installer program requires that Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 be installed prior to installing your PSCAD X4 product. This version of the software comes complete with the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system, but is not included with Microsoft Windows XP or Vista; to download Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, visit www.microsoft.com. 3 USB port is required for hardware lock. A parallel port type lock is still supported, but is deprecated.
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PSCAD Imposed Boundaries (all Editions and Compilers) Description Electrical nodes Transformers Mutually coupled windings Module definitions Components Component Graphical Layers T-Lines/Cables Conductors per T-line ROW Output channels available in PSCAD Output channels available in EMTDC Data signal dimension Radio Transmitters/Receivers STOR allocations STORF/L/I/C allocations Edition Specific Boundaries Description Electrical Subsystems Electrical Nodes Modules Components Student 1 15 5 32,768 Educational 1 200 64 32,768 Professional 256 Unlimited 1,024 65,536 Limit Unlimited4 Unlimited Unlimited 1,024 65,536 256 Unlimited 30 1,024 9,990 1,024 Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited

SUPPORTED FORTRAN COMPILERS

PSCAD requires a Fortran compiler to build and simulate projects. The following commercially available compilers are presently supported:
4 See Edition Specific Boundaries below.
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Compaq Visual Fortran 6.x Intel Visual Fortran 9.x, 10.x & 11.x

For your convenience, a free FORTRAN compiler, called the GFortran 95 compiler, is provided on your PSCAD CD (or may be downloaded from our website: www.pscad.com). If you have downloaded the Student Edition or Trial Edition from our web site, the GFortran compiler is available as a separate file. If you are the owner of a professional PSCAD license, it is recommended that you purchase the Intel Visual Fortran compiler, mainly for its superior debugging environment and optimization features. Contact our Sales Desk ([email protected]) for purchasing details.

LICENSE MANAGEMENT
All PSCAD software editions, except the Student Edition, must be licensed. Licensing is organized and controlled using License Manager software, which can exist either as a separate, standalone program, or embedded within PSCAD itself. The type of licensing arrangement that is best for you depends on how you wish to utilize PSCAD, and on what type of license(s) you purchased. The following sections describe each type of licensing arrangement in detail. Multi-User Licensing The multi-user licensing (MUL) method was first introduced with PSCAD V3, and was then the only licensing option available. With this configuration, the license manager software is installed as a standalone program, which can be accessed by any computer (including the host), on a Local Area Network (LAN). A multi-user set-up is capable of providing multiple users on multiple machines the ability to run multiple combinations of various licensable editions of PSCAD. In other words, if a user is sufficiently licensed, this method has the potential to afford a lot of freedom when operating over a LAN, and should be used if there will be several PSCAD users. In multi-user licensing, the license manager is used in conjunction with a hardware lock (also known as a dongle), which contains licensing information for the purpose of validation. When an
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The license manager can only license PSCAD clients that are on the same network as itself, and where the network is constrained by its network class (the term network class is defined by RFC-960, which is part of the Internet Protocol Standards). The subnet masks on the PSCAD and license manager machines may need to be adjusted, so that PSCAD can contact the license manager machine

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instance of PSCAD is started somewhere on the LAN, a license will be requested from the license manager. The license manager determines whether a license is available, and checks the information on the dongle for verification.

The number of licenses owned does not limit the number of PSCAD installations on the LAN! You can install PSCAD on every machine in your organization if you wish.

The number of users that can access PSCAD simultaneously over the LAN depends on the number of licenses purchased. For example, if there are a total of two Professional Edition licenses, then only two users may use the professional edition at the same time. Each time a user opens or closes the PSCAD program, it will request or relinquish a license respectively. Each licensable edition of PSCAD possesses a separate product number, so that several products can be licensed by the same license manager. The license manager and dongle need to be installed on only one computer in a network. This computer will act as the license manager server, which will grant licenses to other machines on the network, as requested. PSCAD may also be installed on the license manager server machine if desired.

EXAMPLE: A PSCAD user owns three professional edition licenses programmed onto one dongle. The above diagram illustrates how the user could install the license manager on a LAN, so that up to three users can run PSCAD simultaneously.

Multi-user licenses can be time limited or infinite (no time limit). Single-User Licensing Single-user licensing (SUL) still involves the use of a dongle, but a standalone license manager program is not required. Here, an

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embedded license manager, within the PSCAD program itself, manages the licenses. A single-user license will only allow a single user on a single machine to run only one instance of a licensable edition of PSCAD. Singleuser licensing is designed especially for use on standalone machines and laptops, and will NOT allow access from other machines, even if it is connected to a LAN.

EXAMPLE: A PSCAD user owns one professional edition license programmed onto a single dongle. The above diagram illustrates how the user would install PSCAD as a single-user configuration. Note the absence of the license manager as a separate program.

Single-user licenses can be time limited or infinite (no time limit). Trial Licensing In order to simplify the evaluation process, and to provide access to full PSCAD functionality, trial licensing is available for the educational and professional editions. A trial license is a special type of singleuser license, where a time limit is mandatory and the user may only possess a single trial license. With trial licensing, neither the license manager nor the dongle is required. However, the user must request a trial license after PSCAD is installed. Note that until the trial license is approved and sent by the Manitoba HVDC Research Centre Inc., the installed copy of PSCAD will function as a Student Edition (SE), with all SE limitations imposed (i.e. 15 electrical nodes maximum). Trial licenses are locked to the hardware and registry of a particular machine and are therefore not transferable from one machine to another. The latest installed trial license will overwrite any previously existing trial licenses.

Do not upgrade your operating system, hard drive, or network card during the duration of the trial license period. Any one of these changes will cause your trial license to be invalidated.

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Hardware Locks (Dongles) The license manager software supports the following types of hardware locks:

Sentinal SuperPro 797, Low Profile Parallel Port Hardware Lock

Sentinal SuperPro USB, USB Port Hardware Lock The parallel port dongle is perfect for laptop computers, as it features a low profile and does not protrude from the back of the machine (and typically does not ever need to be removed). The serial and parallel port locks are compatible with all Windows platforms on which PSCAD is supported. License Key The license key is an ASCII text file named license.txt, which usually exists as an electronic file, is required for both the PSCAD professional and educational editions. This file contains encrypted information designed to act as a Key to adding or upgrading licenses (both single-user and standalone) to the license database file, which is used directly by the license manager.

LICENSE MANAGER SOFTWARE

In addition to the standalone license manager software that was first introduced with PSCAD V3, the PSCAD package now includes two additional types of license manager. The type of license manager you will need depends on your licensing arrangement. There are a few important points to discuss regarding the maintenance and operation of the license manager. These are outlined in the following sections as well. Standalone License Manager The Standalone License Manager (SLM) is used only with multiuser licenses. The SLM can operate on a dedicated server, or on any machine running PSCAD. Any combination of PSCAD products can be included and used interchangeably with this license
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manager. Installation instructions for the SLM are given later in this chapter. Maintenance and Support Once the license manager is installed and running, it is a good idea for the person operating the designated license manager server to maintain the software and ensure proper operation. The SLM usually starts automatically when the machine is booted and runs as a background process. All SLM events and transactions are recorded in a log file entitled Lmgrd-log.txt, which is located under ...\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ Manitoba HVDC Research Centre\License Manager. When troubleshooting, this file contains important information about the cause of any problems. If problems arise with the operation of your license manager software, first please try to address the problem using the clues found in the log file. If the solution remains elusive, send us an email at PSCAD Support Services ([email protected]) with a detailed description of the problem. To ensure efficient response time, please attach the log file (i.e. Lmgrd-log.txt). Also, go to START | Programs | HVDC Lmgr and run the Get License Info utility and attach the generated Get License Info file (getinfo.txt) to the email. Local License Manager The Local License Manager (LLM) is utilized only when running under a single-user license. Although the LLM will support multiple product licenses, it will not support multiple instances of any individual PSCAD product. Attempting to start a second instance of a certain product (say professional edition), will force the second instance to run as the student edition. Trial License Manager The Trial License Manager (TLM) is utilized only when running under a lockless trial license. The TLM supports only a single, time limited license of the professional or educational edition (multiple trial licenses are not supported). As with the local license manager, the TLM will not grant licenses to other machines on the LAN, and only one instance of a trial license may be active at one time. Any additional instances of PSCAD will run as the student edition.

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PSCAD Usage Log The usage of all licensed PSCAD editions, such as PSCAD editions is logged to a file. This information is saved in a comma-separated variable (*.csv) file called PscadUsage.txt, which is located in the ...\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Manitoba HVDC Research Centre\License Manager directory on the machine running the license manager software. This file can be directly imported into a spreadsheet program. The following is a sample line from a PscadUsage.txt file:
lha, lha, Pro, Remote, Pro, Remote, 7327, 7328, 177, Mon Aug 22 10:45:42 2005, Mon Aug 22 10:48:39 2005 176, Mon Aug 22 10:46:21 2005, Mon Aug 22 10:49:17 2005

The format of the file is as follows: <user id>, <Pscad Edition>, <user location>, <LicenseID><#seconds of use>, <start time>, <finish time> Description:
Once you have submitted trial license request, a new license key will be sent pending approval. Trial licensing is only available for the professional and educational editions.

<userid>: This is the login userid of the PSCAD user. <Pscad Edition>: Can be Pro or Edu. Use of student edition is not logged as it is not a licensed edition and does not require the LM. <user location>: Remote for users using PSCAD on machines other than the LM machine. Local for users using PSCAD on the same machine as the LM machine. <LicenseID>: This is the license ID of the granted license, and appears in the LM log file (lmgrd-log.txt), and in the PSCAD usage log file (PscadLmgr.txt). <start time>: The time that the LM granted the PSCAD license to the user. <finish time>: The time that the user quit the PSCAD application.

TRIAL LICENSES
If you have already installed the student edition and require more than the fixed 15 electrical node limit, or if you would like to review the component design features, you may be interested in a time limited evaluation license for the professional edition. If interested, please follow the procedures below to receive your trial license.

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Requesting a Trial License As part of the requesting a trial license procedure, you must provide us with some specifics on the PC you will be using to run PSCAD. This information is supplied to us in the form of a text file, which contains important machine metrics, such as computer name and other operating system information. This data is required to create a trial license file and is held in the strictest confidentiality. The following procedure outlines how to request a trial license: 1. Open the PSCAD student edition and go to Edit | System Settings... in the main menu bar to open the system settings dialog. 2. Select the License tab near the top of the dialog.

3. In the Trial License area of this dialog, enter a filename and path in the input field entitled Generate Trial License Request or use the Browse button to navigate to the desired directory. This will specify where PSCAD is to place the trial license request file once it is generated. To avoid confusion, leave this path and filename as default. Press the Generate button directly to the right of this field.

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4. A Trial License Registration entry form will appear. Enter all required information into the form and then click the Submit button near the bottom of the form.

5. If all fields in Step 4 were entered correctly, PSCAD will generate the trial license request file and place it in the directory specified in Step 3. A trial license request dialog will appear confirming the placement of the file.

6. A dialog will appear asking if you would like to email the trial license request file now. Click Yes to proceed to Step 7. Click No if you wish to email the trial license request file at a later time. If you decide to send the file at a later time,
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you can start at Step 8 of this procedure, as the file has already been created.

7. Another dialog will appear with a simple warning. Please read carefully:

8. PSCAD will then open a new email form from your default email tool. The body of the email will contain the information given in Step 4 and the sending address is set to PSCAD Sales ([email protected]).

If you generated your trial license request file at an earlier time, you do not need to add the text to the body of the email, as this is contained within your trial license request file anyway.

9. Remember to manually attach the trial license request file to email in Step 8 (the file will located in the directory specified in Step 3). Send the email to PSCAD Sales (sales@pscad. com). You should receive a response within the next couple of days. See the next section entitled Installing a Trial License upon receipt of your trial license key.

Do not upgrade your operating system, change your system clock, or change any hardware configuration (i.e. hard drives, motherboard, etc.) while waiting for your trial license Key

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Installing a Trial License Upon approval of your trial license request, you will receive an email from us with your trial license key attached (i.e. Trial.txt). Before proceeding with installation, please note the following important points: The trial license can only be installed on the computer from which it was requested. When operating under a trial license, PSCAD will only run if it is the only PSCAD instance active on your machine. Quit all other instances of PSCAD prior to starting with a trial license. The trial license will not operate if certain computer system configurations are changed. Do not: Upgrade your operating system, change your system clock, or change any hardware configuration (i.e. hard drives, motherboard, etc.) during the course of the trial license period. If you encounter problems during this process, contact us at PSCAD Support Services ([email protected]).

The following procedure outlines how to install a trial license: 1. Save the trial license key (i.e. Trial.txt file) somewhere on your hard drive (say C:\temp). 2. Open the student edition and go to Edit | System Settings... in the main menu bar to open the system settings dialog. 3. Select the License tab near the top of the dialog.

4. In the trial license area of this dialog, enter the filename and path to your Trial.txt file in the input field entitled Install
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Trial License or press the Browse button to navigate to the file. Once entered, press the Install button directly to the right of this field.

5. If trial license is installed correctly, a trial license installation dialog will appear confirming this, along with the expiry date of the Trial License. Click the OK button.

If the license does not install correctly, please contact us at PSCAD Support Services (support@ pscad.com).

6. Close the student edition and then open the licensed edition. See Viewing Active License Information for details on checking if your trial license is running properly.

INSTALLING PSCAD
Installing your PSCAD software should be a straightforward process. If problems do arise, please contact the PSCAD Support Desk ([email protected]) for assistance. 1. Insert CD into a compatible optical drive. The installer should start automatically. 2. Follow the instructions given in each, sequential installer dialog.

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Finalizing your Installation All editions of PSCAD come complete as one executable file. Therefore when creating a desktop shortcut, add one of the suffixes described below to your shortcut path. Professional Edition: C:\Program Files\PSCAD4xx\bin\win\PSCAD.exe PRO Educational Edition: C:\Program Files\PSCAD4xx\bin\win\PSCAD.exe EDU Student Edition: C:\Program Files\PSCAD4xx\bin\win\PSCAD.exe

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