AnsysEDT

AnsysEDT bundles electromagnetics simulation solutions such as Ansys HFSS, Ansys Maxwell, Ansys Q3D Extractor, Ansys SIwave, and Ansys Icepak using electrical CAD (ECAD) and mechanical CAD (MCAD) workflows. AnsysEDT also integrates with the complete Ansys portfolio of thermal, fluid, and mechanical solvers for comprehensive multiphysics analysis.

Licensing¶

The Alliance is a hosting provider for AnsysEDT. This means we have the software installed on our clusters, but do not provide a generic license accessible to everyone. However, many institutions, faculties, and departments already have license servers that can be used if the legal aspects can be worked out. Network changes would need to be made to enable the license server to be reached from the cluster compute nodes. The Ansys software would then be able to check out licenses after loading the ansysedt module. For help contact technical support.

Configuring your license file¶

Specify your ansysedt license server by creating a file named $HOME/.licenses/ansys.lic consisting of two lines. See Configuring your license file on the Ansys wiki page for further details.

Cluster batch job submission¶

AnsysEDT can be run interactively in batch (non-GUI) mode by first starting an salloc session with options salloc --time=3:00:00 --tasks=8 --mem=16G --account=def-account and then copy-pasting the full ansysedt command found in the last line of script-local-cmd.sh, being sure to manually specify $YOUR_AEDT_FILE.

Slurm scripts¶

Jobs may be submitted to a cluster queue with the sbatch script-name.sh command using either of the following single node scripts. Please note these scripts are generic and may require modifications on various clusters. Before using them, specify the simulation time, memory, number of cores and replace YOUR_AEDT_FILE with your input file name. A full listing of command line options can be obtained by starting AnsysEDT in graphical mode with commands ansysedt -help or ansysedt -Batchoptionhelp to obtain scrollable graphical popups.

Single node (command line)¶

script-local-cmd.sh

#!/bin/bash

#SBATCH --account=account      # Specify your account (def or rrg)
#SBATCH --time=00-01:00        # Specify time (DD-HH:MM)
#SBATCH --mem=16G              # Specify memory (set to 0 to use all compute node memory)
#SBATCH --ntasks=8             # Specify number of cores to be used on a single node
#SBATCH --nodes=1              # Request one node (Do Not Change)

module load StdEnv/2023
#module load ansysedt/2023R2
module load ansysedt/2024R2.1

# Uncomment next line to run a test example:
#cp -f $EBROOTANSYSEDT/v232/Linux64/Examples/HFSS/Antennas/TransientGeoRadar.aedt .
cp -f $EBROOTANSYSEDT/v242/Linux64/Examples/HFSS/Antennas/TransientGeoRadar.aedt .

# Specify input file such as:
YOUR_AEDT_FILE="TransientGeoRadar.aedt"

# Remove previous output:
rm -rf $YOUR_AEDT_FILE.* ${YOUR_AEDT_FILE}results

# ---- do not change anything below this line ---- #

echo -e "\nANSYSLI_SERVERS= $ANSYSLI_SERVERS"
echo "ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE= $ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE"
echo -e "SLURM_TMPDIR= $SLURM_TMPDIR on $SLURMD_NODENAME\n"

export KMP_AFFINITY=disabled
ansysedt -monitor -UseElectronicsPPE -ng -distributed -machinelist list=localhost:1:$SLURM_NTASKS \
-batchoptions "TempDirectory=$SLURM_TMPDIR HPCLicenseType=pool HFSS/EnableGPU=0" -batchsolve "$YOUR_AEDT_FILE"

Single node (options file)¶

script-local-opt.sh

#!/bin/bash

#SBATCH --account=account      # Specify your account (def or rrg)
#SBATCH --time=00-01:00        # Specify time (DD-HH:MM)
#SBATCH --mem=16G              # Specify memory (set to 0 to allocate all compute node memory)
#SBATCH --ntasks=8             # Specify number of cores to be used on a single node
#SBATCH --nodes=1              # Request one node (Do Not Change)

module load StdEnv/2023
#module load ansysedt/2023R2
module load ansysedt/2024R2.1

# Uncomment next line to run a test example:
#cp -f $EBROOTANSYSEDT/v232/Linux64/Examples/HFSS/Antennas/TransientGeoRadar.aedt .
cp -f $EBROOTANSYSEDT/v242/Linux64/Examples/HFSS/Antennas/TransientGeoRadar.aedt .

# Specify input filename such as:
YOUR_AEDT_FILE="TransientGeoRadar.aedt"

# Remove previous output:
rm -rf $YOUR_AEDT_FILE.* ${YOUR_AEDT_FILE}results

# Specify options filename:
OPTIONS_TXT="Options.txt"

# Write sample options file
rm -f $OPTIONS_TXT
cat > $OPTIONS_TXT <<EOF
$begin 'Config'
'TempDirectory'='$SLURM_TMPDIR'
'HPCLicenseType'='pool'
'HFSS/EnableGPU'=0
$end 'Config'
EOF

# ---- do not change anything below this line ---- #

echo -e "\nANSYSLI_SERVERS= $ANSYSLI_SERVERS"
echo "ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE= $ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE"
echo -e "SLURM_TMPDIR= $SLURM_TMPDIR on $SLURMD_NODENAME\n"

export KMP_AFFINITY=disabled

ansysedt -monitor -UseElectronicsPPE -ng -distributed -machinelist list=localhost:1:$SLURM_NTASKS \
-batchoptions $OPTIONS_TXT -batchsolve "$YOUR_AEDT_FILE"

Graphical use¶

To run AnsysEDT in graphical mode use an OnDemand or JupyterLab system to start a remote desktop as follows:

OnDemand¶

Connect to an OnDemand system using one of the following URLs in your laptop browser:
- NIBI: https://ondemand.sharcnet.ca
- FIR: https://jupyterhub.fir.alliancecan.ca
- NARVAL: https://portail.narval.calculquebec.ca/
- RORQUAL: https://jupyterhub.rorqual.alliancecan.ca
- TRILLIUM: https://ondemand.scinet.utoronto.ca
Open a new terminal window in your desktop and run:
- module load StdEnv/2023 (default)
- module load ansysedt/2024R2.1 OR ansysedt/2023R2
- Type ansysedt in the terminal and wait for the GUI to start.
Verify the following settings:
- The following only needs to be done once:
  - Click Tools -> Options -> HPC and Analysis Options -> Edit.
  - When the Analysis Configuration panel appears, untick Use Automatic Settings.
  - Ensure the settings in the Machine tab correspond to requested desktop resources, such as: | Tasks 1 | Cores 4 | Allocated_Cores | GPUs 0 | RAM 90 | tick Enabled |
  - Click the OK button to save any changes and close the Analysis Configuration panel.
  - Click the OK button to close the HPC and Analysis Options panel.
To retrieve the 2024R2.1 Antennas examples, copy its directory under your account as follows:
- module load ansysedt/2024R2.1
- mkdir -p ~/Ansoft/$EBVERSIONANSYSEDT; rm -rf ~/Ansoft/$EBVERSIONANSYSEDT/Antennas
- cp -a $EBROOTANSYSEDT/v242/Linux64/Examples/HFSS/Antennas ~/Ansoft/$EBVERSIONANSYSEDT
Now to run the example:
- Open one of the Antennas examples .aedt files then click HFSS -> Validation Check.
- Click Simulation -> Setup -> Advanced -> Mesh/Solution options -> Use Defaults.
- Start simulation running by clicking Simulation -> Analyze All.
- To quit without saving the converged solution click File -> Close -> No.
If ansysedt crashes and won't restart try running the following commands:
- pkill -9 -u $USER -f "ansys*|mono|mwrpcss|apip-standalone-service"
- rm -rf ~/.mw (ansysedt will re-run first-time configuration on startup)

Site-Specific¶

SHARCNET license¶

The usage terms of the SHARCNET ANSYS License (which includes AnsysEDT) along with other various details may be found in the SHARCNET license section of the Ansys wiki and will not be repeated here.

License file¶

The SHARCNET Ansys license can be used for the AnsysEDT modules on any Alliance cluster by any researcher for free, by configuring your ansys.lic file as follows:

```bash [username@cluster:~] cat ~/.licenses/ansys.lic setenv("ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE", "1055@license3.sharcnet.ca") setenv("ANSYSLI_SERVERS", "2325@license3.sharcnet.ca")