In this article, we will explain how to launch parametric sweeps/optimizations on a (1) local machine, (2) across multiple computers in your local network, and (3) with a job scheduler on a cluster. Running these types of tasks concurrently can drastically shorten the time-to-result for optimization/sweeps with multiple jobs.
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 Configuring your cluster for Ansys Lumerical page.
- Running simulation jobs at the same time (concurrent) on multiple machines will require an additional license for each computer that is running the job.
- Before trying to run your simulation or sweeps across several computers, ensure that you can run this on each computer independently.
Setting the Resource Configuration
- Open the Resource Configuration from the toolbar or Simulation menu.
- Enter the number of concurrent sweeps you want to run on a machine in the 'Capacity' field. This dictates the total number of available resources of that type when running sweeps/analyses.
- Configure the 'Processes' and 'Threads' settings applied to each of the resources. Not all solvers support Processes or Threads. For those that support both, finding the right combination often comes down to your specific simulation needs.
- See the Resource Configuration page for details.
Default job launching preset
Windows:
- Use use "Remote: Microsoft MPI" when running on the local machine (localhost). Otherwise, use "Remote: Intel MPI" as the job launching preset when running on remote machines.
- Select "Custom" for custom MPI installations. e.g. clusters or HPC that have a preconfigured MPI implementation.
- Do Not Use "Local Computer" as the job launching preset.
Linux:
- Use "Remote: MPICH2" to run using the bundled MPICH2 (2023 R2 and older releases).
- Select "Remote: OpenMPI" or "Remote: IntelMPI" which ever is installed on your machine (2024 and newer releases).
- Do Not Use "Local Computer" as the job launching preset.
Calculating how many licenses are required
The number of FDTD accelerator, solve, or 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 Ansys optics solve, accelerator, and Ansys HPC license consumption page for details.
Resource configuration examples
Run on the local machine (localhost)
- Set to resource to run on 'localhost' and "Remote: Microsoft MPI" as the Job launching preset.
- When running on localhost on standard license, an indication of whether license sharing is supported is displayed in the license estimator utility. See this KB for more information on license sharing and usage.
The following example shows the configuration for running 4 simulations or sweeps at the same time, using 8 processes each on a local machine that has more than 32 cores.
Run concurrently on remote machines
- Add the 'remote' hosts/machine and set "Remote: Intel MPI" as the Job launching preset.
- License sharing is not supported when running across multiple machines. See Ansys optics solve, accelerator, and HPC license consumption page for details.
Run on the cluster with a job scheduler
- See this KB for more information on configuring your resources to your job scheduler.
See also
Lumerical job scheduler integration configuration (Slurm, Torque, LSF, SGE)