Simulation CFD - Setting Up a Remote Solver

Problem:

Solution:

Setting up a remote computer to solve CFD analysis can greatly improve the use of computer resources because now a team can share a powerful computer that can queue up everyone’s analysis. This way you don’t have expensive computers idle at user’s desks.  You still only need 1 set of licenses to be able to take advantage of the remote solving capability.

The simplest form of remote solving is that there are only two computer involved:  the interface/client computer and the analysis/remote computer.  You can have any number of client and server computers configured, but a license will only be required when the user interface is open on a client or when an analysis is running on a remote computer.

The following are the most basic of requirements necessary for configuring your computers for remote solving.

• Both computers have to be part of the same network (WAN or LAN)
• Both computers need the same release and service pack of Autodesk Simulation CFD installed
• The interface computer needs to be configured to send jobs to the remote solver
• Firewall exception typically need to be setup on both the client and the server
(Note: Running over a VPN is not suggested)

Assuming that all computers are on the same network and that you have successfully installed and tested each installation of Simulation CFD on all client and server computers, the only remaining steps that need to be completed are the configuring of the client computer to know what computers are the remote solvers and confirming that all Firewall exception are established if needed.

Direction for Remote Solve in Simulation CFD 2013 and Forward

The configuration of the client computers is done through the interface.  The button that you are going to want to click on is the “Solver Computers” button located in the dropdown section of the solve panel as part of the setup ribbon.  This is shown in the picture below.

 
When you first open this window, you will only find one line filled in and that is for your client computer.   The chart will by default have ‘MyComputer’ for the solver computer name, the physical computer name as typically defined by your IT team, and the number of physical cores in your machine.  As you can see in the image below, my desktop has 4 cores.   We will ignore the two check boxes to the right.  The ‘Use Cluster’ is rarely used and the notify checkbox is for another conversation.

To add a new computer click on the bottom line, this will add a new row. In the new row you are going to want to fill in the value for solver computer, computer name, and the number of physical cores (SimCFD supports 2^n cores… 1,2,4,8,16,…).  In the picture above I named my new solver computer ‘HP Laptop’ since that is how I refer to it.  The computer name is easily found for the solver computer from the computer properties window.  Lastly, I typed in ‘4’ for the number of physical cores the laptop has.  If you type in ‘0’ the software will use as many cores available.  Click OK to save the settings.

At this time, setup a simple model and go to the Solve window and select your new remote computer in the ‘Solver Computer’ drop down. 

If the analysis meshes, runs, and the results are retrieved when it finishes you have successfully setup the remote solve capability.  If it failed, you probably need to setup the firewall exceptions.

Add the following ‘-----.exe’ that are located in the Simulation CFD 2013 installer folder to your firewall exception list.  This should be done both on your client and remote computer.

• SimCFD.exe
• SimCFDMesher.exe
• SimCFDMonitor.exe
• SimCFDServer.exe
• SimCFDServerManager.exe
• SimCFDSolver.exe
• SimCFDJobManager.exe

With the firewalls now configured you should be successful, if not please reach out to the technical support team to help you configure your system.

Direction for Remote Solve in Simulation CFD 2012 and prior versions

The process is very similar as described above for Simulation CFD 2013, but it is completed outside of the software.

Inside the installation folder on the client computer (i. e. C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Simulation CFD 2012\...) there is a file called ‘server.cfg’. Open this file with Notepad and simply enter the computer name of the analysis computer.   By default, the software will use as many cores as possible.  After restarting SimCFD 2012 in the client computer the user should be able to choose the desired analysis computer from the solve window.

Example server.cfg content:
MyComputer
ServerComputer    
*Server ServerComputer MPI4      #The number at the end of this line controls the number of cores used

The second and third line will result in the same outcome of solving on the specified computer, but the third will be displayed as *Server in the solve window dropdown.

If the analysis meshes, runs, and the results are retrieved when it finishes you have successfully setup the remote solve capability.  If it failed, you probably need to setup the firewall exceptions.

Add the following ‘-----.exe’ that are located in the Simulation CFD 2012 installer folder to your firewall exception list.  This should be done both on your client and remote computer.

• cfdcalc.exe
• mesher.exe
• cfdesign.exe
• servman.exe
• cfdserv.exe
• CFdMonitor.exe

With the firewalls now configured you should be successful, if not please reach out to the technical support team to help you configure your system.