Certificate licenses (available starting in 2013), are the preferred method for licensing PSCAD. Unlike lock-based licenses, this method does not require a hardware lock and database file. A license certificate is a temporary authorization to run PSCAD, and is granted through a user’s MyCentre login credentials.
The following sections contain an overview of MyCentre and certificate licenses. For more detailed information and instructions, refer to the document Managing MyCentre, located on the following web page: https://hvdc.ca/knowledge-library/reference-material.
Members register a MyCentre user account, in which their licenses are stored. A member’s login credentials will authorize one of their licenses, and in turn activate a license certificate in the form of a file on their workstation. Licenses and products, exclusive to a member, are held in product accounts. In some cases, a software deployment utility, called MyUpdater, is used to install, uninstall, update and launch PSCAD. In others, software is installed via the InstallShield Wizard, and launched from an executable file.
The following figure illustrates the elements for running software using MyCentre and MyUpdater.
The following figure illustrates the elements required for running software using MyCentre, but not MyUpdater.
Certificate licensing is applicable to the following editions and license types:
The Professional Edition of v4.6 and up (permanent, temporary and trial licensing)
The Educational Edition of v4.6 and up (trial licensing)
NOTE: Permanent and temporary licensing for the Educational Edition is not available in v4.6.0.
The Professional and Educational Editions of v4.5 (trial licensing)
NOTE: Alternatively, a temporary licensing is also available through a lockless trial License.
The Free Edition and Beta Edition
A certificate license is authorized through a web portal called MyCentre (https://mycentre.hvdc.ca). MyCentre is a software and information management portal designed to provide assistance to users of PSCAD. In addition to hosting current and relevant reference materials and a user forum, MyCentre provides software products and licensing.
Members register a user account to access their MyCentre products. A user account contains all the products for which the member is eligible. For example, every member is automatically granted access to the Free Edition and given ten licenses for it.
Members’ products, such as licenses, are all held in product accounts. Accounts are used to control the availability of products to members by controlling access. An educational facility, for example, may make its Educational Edition available only to select students by providing them with access to an account containing that edition.
An account may contain one or more licenses. The product account for the Free Edition, for example, typically contains ten licenses.
An account may be shared between members. A commercial facility with five licenses for the Professional Edition, for example, may have one product account containing all five licenses. Staff members have access to this account through their user account.
An account may contain licenses for one or more different editions. An educational facility, for example, may have a product account containing licensing for its Professional and Educational Editions. Conversely, the facility may split its licensing into two separate product accounts, one for its graduate students, and the other for its undergraduate students.
Product accounts contain licenses. Licenses dictate the software edition and version, type of license, and licensing duration. Some licenses are permanent, while others are temporary. Licenses for the Free Edition and for permanent Educational and Professional Editions have no expiry date. Licenses for the Beta Edition, and for software used for training or a Trial License, typically have expiry dates applied.
A license certificate is a temporary and renewable authorization for running PSCAD on a machine. A user may obtain a license certificate on a machine by using their MyCentre login credentials. This will access his or her product account containing the license.
A license certificate is temporary, and expires according to the following conditions:
It will automatically be set to expire approximately four weeks following the initial activation date, so long as the license does not expire during that period. This permits a period of offline usage.
NOTE: If a member intends to work offline with a license, he must ensure that he configures the licensing for offline usage for the full 28-day period.
NOTE: If, after using a license certificate on Machine A, the license will next be used on Machine B, the member must ensure to release the license certificate from Machine A. Otherwise, the license certificate may not be activated on Machine B.
It may be released (expired) at any time by the member, and returned to the account. It may then be re-activated for an additional four weeks, so long as the license does not expire during that period.
Once a license certificate is activated, multiple instances of PSCAD may be run on a workstation using a single license certificate. The number of instances run on a workstation is only limited by the memory size. This is a major advantage of a certificate license over a lock-based license; in the latter, each instance of PSCAD consumes one seat (the equivalent of a license certificate).
One additional consideration when using a certificate license is that certain software requires the use of a software deployment utility, called MyUpdater. MyUpdater is installed on a member’s workstation, and is used to install, uninstall, update and launch software. Specifically, the Free and Beta Editions require it’s use. Occasionally, a pre-release version may be provided to select members via MyUpdater to deploy required fixes or to test new features. MyUpdater is optional for the deployment of the Professional Edition, and is not yet available for the Educational Edition.
For more detailed information and instructions for using MyUpdater, refer to the document “Managing MyCentre”, located on the following web page: https://hvdc.ca/knowledge-library/reference-material
Anyone may join MyCentre. Following registration, a MyCentre user account will be created, and will contain the member’s unique product set. The Free Edition is automatically made available in each user account (see below for instructions on obtaining this edition). A user account is required for obtaining the following:
Running the Free Edition
Running the Beta Edition
Running a Professional Edition using certificate licensing (permanent)
NOTE: A MyCentre user account is not required when running a professional edition using lock-based licenses.
Running a temporary Professional or Educational Edition using certificate licensing for either a training session or a trial license
NOTE: A MyCentre user account is not required when running a trial license using the trial.txt file.
See Section 2.2 of the Managing MyCentre document on the following web page for instructions on registering a User Account: https://hvdc.ca/uploads/ck/files/ManagingMyCentre.pdf
The PSCAD X4 Free Edition is available to any member with a MyCentre user account. The Free Edition is a limited-feature edition, and allows members to become familiar with PSCAD tools and capabilities. The MyUpdater utility is used to deploy the software, and licensing is authorized with your MyCentre login credentials.
See Section 4 of the Managing MyCentre document on the following web page for instructions on obtaining the Free Edition: https://hvdc.ca/uploads/ck/files/ManagingMyCentre.pdf
The Beta Edition is available to qualified members. It provides a means for users to directly affect the development of PSCAD, by using and critiquing new features and functionalities before they are released. The MyUpdater utility is used to deploy the software, and licensing is authorized with your MyCentre login credentials.
See Section 5 of the Managing MyCentre document on the following web page for instructions on obtaining the Free Edition: https://hvdc.ca/uploads/ck/files/ManagingMyCentre.pdf
The Professional Edition is available using a certificate license as of PSCAD v4.6 and later. Alternatively, it is available using a lock-based license.
To run a Professional Edition with certificate licensing, please contact our Sales Desk (sales@pscad.com).
A temporary Professional or Educational edition is available using certificate licensing with PSCAD v4.6 and later. Alternatively, trial licensing is also still available using a trial.txt file.
To run a temporary edition with certificate licensing, please contact our Sales Desk (sales@pscad.com).
Open the System Settings dialog. Select the Certificate Licensing tab.
In the middle of the dialog, there is an area entitled Status. Some preliminary information is given directly within this area. For more detailed information, click the View... button. The License Certificate dialog will display, and provide all available information regarding your current licensing.
Clicking in a field will display a corresponding description in the bottom (General) section.