Distributed computing

This article outlines the process of running a large simulation job across several computers on a local network or cluster. This feature is available for FDTD solver and varFDTD solver in MODE.

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Note:
  • Machines/nodes should be on the same operating system and using the same version of our simulation design software.
  • Configure your system first, as shown in the Getting started with HPC page. 
  • Before trying to distribute a single simulation across multiple computers, ensure that simulations run properly on each computer individually.

Setting the Resource Configuration

  1. Create or open your simulation project
  2. Open "Resources"
  3. Specify the Hostname or IP of the machine where you want to remotely distribute your jobs, separated by a comma (,)
  4. Indicate the number of processes for each of the machines, separated by a comma (,).

Default job launching preset

    • Windows: 
      • Use "Remote: Intel MPI" as the job launching preset
      • Select "Custom" if for custom MPI installations e.g. clusters or HPC that have a preconfigured MPI environment.
      • Do Not Use "Remote: Microsoft MPI" or "Local Computer" as the job launching preset
    • Linux:
      • Use "Remote: MPICH2" to test with the include MPICH2 runtime. Note: this runtime is outdated and is not as performant as Intel MPI or OpenMPI (see "Custom" bellow)
      • Select "Custom" if for custom MPI installations e.g. clusters or HPC that have a preconfigured MPI environment.
      • Do Not Use "Local Computer" as the job launching preset

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Calculating how many solver licenses are required

The number of solver/accelerator/HPC licenses required to run your jobs depends on the number of cores used, the number of concurrent simulations, the type of job, and the type of license you have purchased.  See the Understanding solver, accelerator, and HPC license consumption page for details. 

See also

Compute resource configuration use cases 

Resource configuration elements and controls 

Lumerical solve, accelerator, and Ansys HPC license consumption 

Concurrent parametric computing 

Lumerical job scheduler integration configuration

Running simulations from the command line

Associated files

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