Table of Contents
What is CMC CAD Compute Cluster?
The CMC CAD Compute Cluster is a dedicated group of servers enabling researchers to improve the performance of large computational tasks. For a full description of the CMC Compute Cluster, go to https://www.cmc.ca/cad-compute-cluster/.
Who Can Use CAD Compute Cluster?
A CMC account holder with a research subscription can use the CAD Compute Cluster.
How to Use CAD Compute Cluster?
Creating an Instance
To create an instance of CAD Compute Cluster:
- Go to https://vcad.cmc.ca
- Select the tab Create My Instance, and then click Create Instance.
Connecting to Your Instance
Enter the following command:
$ ssh -p port_number uwhpc.cmc.ca -l your_cmc_register_name
Initializing Your Environment in CAD Compute Cluster
After you log in to CMC CAD Compute Cluster Login Nodes, you need to run a script that creates an SSH key pair and temporary space for you. You can then submit jobs to the cluster and specify your simulation temporary space.
Enter the following command:
$ /home/scripts/setsshkey
To use temporary space for your simulation, for example, if you run a COMSOL simulation, add the following to your command or scripts:
-tmpdir /scratch/$USER
Note: Save your projects to your home directory, which is kept permanently. The home directory has a disk quota of 80 GB. When the usage approaches the quota limit, you need to backup the content to your local machine and clean the home directory.
Completing a Design in CMC cloud design environments and Transferring Files
- Go to https://vcad.cmc.ca, create an instance, and name it My Linux CAD Workstation.
- If your project file is in your local system, use the command scp or sftp to copy it to the folder mydata in My Linux CAD Workstation.
- When you complete the design, copy it to CMC CAD Compute Cluster by entering the following command:
$ scp -P 223 your_design_file_name your_cmc_register_name@uwhpc.cmc.ca:~
Where your_cmc_register_name is your username to log in to https://vcad.cmc.ca/, e.g., owain.jones@cmc.ca.
Completing a Design on Your Workstation and Transferring Files
Use Secure Copy (scp) or FileZilla (sftp) to upload your design and download simulation results. For instructions, see Uploading a Simulation File to the CAD Compute Cluster.
Connection information, i.e., host name and port number, is displayed in https://vcad.cmc.ca in Connection Method under Connect Using SSH for Linux & UNIX.
Accessing and Opening Your Simulation Results
Because CMC CAD Compute Cluster is batch-job-based with no GUI desktop, if you need a GUI desktop, you will have to use other systems (i.e., your own desktop or CMC cloud instance) to open your simulation results.
Transferring Results to Your Desktop
Use any sftp client software (e.g., FileZilla, Windows 10 also has a built-in scp command) installed on your desktop, and the connection information of your instance of CAD Compute Cluster to transfer results. An example using the Windows 10 command scp to copy the simulation result file /home/xxxx/comsol/Output_148.out from CAD Compute Cluster to desktop is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Using scp to Copy a Simulation Result File
Transferring Results to Your CMC cloud Instance
From your CMC cloud Instance, i.e., My Linux CAD Workstation (Centos 7), open a terminal window from the instance, then run the following scp command:
$ scp -P 223 your_cmc_register_name@uwhpc.cmc.ca:/home/xxxx/comsol/Output_148.out .
Job Scheduling
For job scheduling, use the IBM Spectrum Load Sharing Facility (LSF) Suite for HPC.
To submit a job to the cluster, for example:
$ bsub -I “date”
The following is an example of the output:
Job <15379> is submitted to default queue .
<>
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Mon Apr 25 16:25:58 EDT 2022
To determine what computer resources are available:
$ bhosts
The following is an example of the output:
HOST_NAME STATUS JL/U MAX NJOBS RUN SSUSP USUSP RSV
uwmhpc01 ok – 32 24 24 0 0 0
uwmhpc02 ok – 32 16 16 0 0 0
uwmhpc03 ok – 32 0 0 0 0 0
This output indicates that computer uwmhpc01 has 8 cores, uwmhpc02 has 16 cores, and uwmhpc03 has 32 cores available for a job submission.
To display and filter LSF job information:
$ bjobs 1627
The following is an example of the output:
JOBID USER STAT QUEUE FROM_HOST EXEC_HOST JOB_NAME SUBMIT_TIME
1627 v32925@ DONE adept login3 uwmhpc03 *ame; date Aug 26 12:02
To kill your current job:
$ bkill 1627
To display historical JSF job information:
$ bhist 1627
The following is an example of the output:
Summary of time in seconds spent in various states:
JOBID USER JOB_NAME PEND PSUSP RUN USUSP SSUSP UNKWN TOTAL
1627 v32925@ *e; date 0 0 6 0 0 0 6
For more information about the LSF job scheduler, see Load Share Facility (LSF) Job Scheduler: Commands to set up your Environment.
Environment Modules
CMC uses Environment Modules to set up the system and environment for running CAD related tools.
To check available modules:
$ module available
To load a module:
$ module load ansys/19.4
To check for loaded modules:
$ module list
The following is an example of the output:
Currently loaded module files:
1) ansys/19.4
To unload an existing module:
$ module unload ansys/19.4
Supported CAD Tools
License Agreement
License usage agreements are available for review. For more information, contact at cad@cmc.ca.