File Manager installation is composed of several steps that must be performed sequentially in order to provide a stable system for the users. In addition, there are opportunities during the installation for customizing the software in order to meet the specific needs of your site. It is highly recommended that you completely read through this section on installation as well as the next section on customization before installation.

The File Manager is based on the Client/Server software model and requires installation methods.

To run the MSC SuperModel Installation CD, load it into your CD player. It automatically starts and you can follow the directions. If it does not automatically start, navigate to the setup.exe file and click on it.

To uninstall, navigate to the Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs option. Select MSC SuperModel and click Add/Remove. Your program is now uninstalled.

An initial installation can be restarted by performing the following manual operations. (This procedure is valid ONLY for an initial installation.)

This section provides details regarding the installation of the server software for File Manager. It is not necessary to understand every installation type immediately. After you have performed an initial installation, the subsequent installations only deviate slightly (although these deviations may be critical). The installation types are briefly described in the following table.

Four basic steps are required for server installation, with slight modifications to each based on the installation type.

Each of these steps is detailed in the following subsections.

Currently, the File Manager software is loaded as part of the MSC.SuperModel delivery. Regardless of the media, unloading MSC.SuperModel results in the creation of a Filemanager subdirectory in your MSC.Patran installation directory (typically identified as P3_HOME).

No additional effort is required for loading the software during initial installation. In the event that the Filemanager directory is not present it is necessary to reload the MSC.SuperModel software.

The reloading of either MSC.SuperModel or File Manager software on the server machine requires special attention (this is not true of software reloads on client machines). In order to allow a proper reload to occur the File Manager server must first be stopped causing service disruption to any users that are currently in an MSC.SuperModel session. Therefore, the following steps should be followed when upgrading a File Manager (or MSC.SuperModel) installation.

$ ps -ef | grep smdl_fm_server

$ kill <pid>

For upgrades to MSC.SuperModel you can now safely follow the installation instructions provided.

If only File Manager is being upgraded, you have received a separate installation set. This consists of a single tar file (usually delivered on tape or through direct ftp transfer) that should be copied to $P3_HOME/Filemanager and then expanded using the command:

	$ tar -xvf <tar_file>

where <tar_file> is usually a filename of the form smdl_fm_vX.X.tar. This operation replaces the previous existing files required by File Manager with the latest (X.X) version.

There is one feature to customize for File Manager that MUST be addressed prior to the initialization of the server. Specification of the hierarchy depth and level labels should be made at this time if the default is not acceptable for your user community. The default settings are:

Please refer to the subsection in customizing associated with the hierarchy for information on how to make changes to these default settings.

In addition to the limitation that changes to this aspect of File Manager can only be accomplished at this phase of the server installation, you should be aware of significant differences in your ability to perform this customization depending on the installation type.

For initial installations, the administrator should make changes to the default settings listed above in order to provide a hierarchy which is best suited to their users’ needs. There are no restrictions besides those listed in the subsection regarding hierarchy customization.

Upgrades to the File Manager software DO NOT require or support changes made to the previous hierarchy specifications. All other system customizing is supported, but an attempt to redefine the hierarchy depth or level labels may result in corruption of File Manager’s database. This would leave File Manager in an unusable state and would result in an inability to identify and locate the user files that the system had been tracking.

Software installation requires a thorough understanding of the File Manager system and how it maps to the administrators network. In particular, the installation script prompts the administrator for following pieces of information:

The host machine is generally the machine on which the software is being loaded. More complicated software loads (i.e. those which would have the software reside on a machine other than the one which would be executing it) are not currently described in this manual and the administrator should contact their local MSC Application Engineer for assistance.

The program number is a unique integer number which is recognized by the system when it receives requests to establish client/server communications. This number is written to two system files ( inetd.conf and rpc) and the installation script prompts the administrator to execute commands intended to help ensure the uniqueness of this choice. The default value provided (539117062) is as good as any other selection unless you know it already is being used or you have been assigned a number by your system administrator.

The directories requested (respository, local workspace, and remote workspace) must be carefully chosen so that they comply with the system requirements in terms of both server and client accessibility. In addition, their choice should also be based in part on the recommended space required for each. See the Requirements section of this chapter.

With the information readily available, the installation of the software can be accomplished by executing the following commands:

$ cd $P3_HOME/Filemanager/install

$ ./fm_install

After responding to the questions sited above, the script provides additional commands associated with initializing the server.

For initial installations no additional actions or restrictions apply.

When upgrading an existing installation, answers to the questions listed above must match the existing installation EXACLY. The install script should provide the original responses as the default, but if anything looks incorrect it would be best to abort the operation and double check your information.

The first few commands provided by fm_install are checks to ensure that the client/server application will be properly recognized by your system. If any of the commands or the files they operate on are unfamiliar, you should contact either your local system administrator or MSC Application Engineer to assist you in understanding the output of these commands.

The final command provided actually performs the initialization of the server (hence the name initialize_server). For completeness, the command is also provided here:

$ ./initialize_server

Note that the command MUST be executed from the install directory of File Manager (which you should already be in after completing the software load).

The above command invokes a MSC Patran session in batch mode in order to properly configure File Manager for use. The output of this command provides you with indications of its success or failure. In particular you should expect to see the following lines if the initialization proceeds correctly:

$$$ SUCCESSFULLY INITIALIZED FILEMANAGER $$$

$$$ SUCCESSFULLY DEFINED DEFAULT FILE TYPES $$$

If you encounter error messages, please consult with your local MSC Application Engineer
for assistance.

Again, this is the only time when initialization should be attempted!

The initialization of the File Manger should never be attempted for this type of installation (see the previous warning).

Under rare circumstances, the loading of a software upgrade results in errors reported regarding an inability of the client to communicate with the server. This is a known problem on the HPUX 10.20 operating system for instance. Invoking the above commands WILL NOT rectify these situations. You should consult your local MSC Application Engineer if you experience any difficulty with the
installation process.

Unlike the server installations, all client installations and upgrades are performed identically. However they must only be attempted after a successful server installation has been accomplished.

The steps involved in performing a client installation are:

Neither customization nor initialization is required for the client installation.

Unlike the server installation, the software for a client installation is not provided on the delivery media. Instead, it is generated by the server installation and packaged into the file: $P3_HOME/Filemanager/install/fm_client.tar. This file should be copied to the $P3_HOME directory of each client machine and expanded using the following command:

$ tar -xvf fm_client.tar

In the event that the above file is not available, it is possible to load the client software from the original media and then upgrade it to match the server installation. To accomplish this, the following steps must be taken:

Either of these methods provide the necessary files for the client installation to proceed.

Software installation on a client machine requires some of the same decisions associated with server installation. In particular, for each client machine you must identify the directory to be used for the local workspace. This choice should be based on the system requirements and recommendations in the Requirements section of this chapter.

In addition, it is important that the responses to the remaining question asked by the install script match those given during server installation. This is the reason for the previously mentioned tar file or alternatively the copying of the Defaults file from server to client.

After the location of the local workspace has been decided, proceed with executing the install
script using:

$ cd $P3_HOME/Filemanager/install

$ ./fm_install

Then the same list of questions previously encountered during the server installation is displayed. These are reiterated, with an indication of those questions for which the defaults should match the previous installation (thus allowing you to simply accept their values).

As with a server re-installation, if the default values (with the exception of the local workspace) do not seem to agree with how you believe the server is configured, you should abort this process and resolve those concerns before re-running the install script.

Even though the server initialization provides an adequate check that the installation was performed correctly, the only way to check a client installation is to start MSC SuperModel and attempt to access the File Manager functionality. This test should be performed as a non-root user and any errors which might be encountered should be reported to your local MSC Application Engineer for assistance in identifying and correcting the problem.