4.1.1. Machine Prerequisites

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Installation Guide | Chapter 4: EKM Server Prerequisites | 4.1. Prerequisite Instructions |

4.1. Prerequisite Instructions |  | 4.1.2. Prerequisite Operations
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### 4.1.1. Machine Prerequisites

The following machine prerequisites must be met before you can set up an EKM server using the ANSYS EKM Server product installation.

#### 4.1.1.1. Minimum Hardware Requirements

Minimum hardware requirements for different configurations are provided below, along with common hardware requirements that apply to all configurations.

The Worldwide EKM Enterprise team can provide more specific resource recommendations for your EKM deployment based on your organization’s workloads and deployment goals.

Common Hardware Requirements

- RAM: 8 GB or more RAM is required.

- CPU: A minimum of 2 CPU cores of 2.0 GHz or higher CPU speed are required. Additional CPU cores will provide better performance.

- (Optional) Graphics Card: A workstation-class graphics card that is certified to be compatible with ANSYS Inc. products (for example, NVIDIA Quadro and AMD FirePRO).

Note: The amount of memory (RAM) and processing power (CPU) required for an EKM server is largely determined by a combination of the following factors:

1. The amount of RAM and CPU required to run the EKM server itself. This includes the application server, database server, and so on that make up the EKM server environment.

   This factor increases with the number of users that access the system concurrently, and is affected by the types of activities performed by the users, such as searching, viewing reports, or browsing the repository. If we assume that users use the server in more or less similar ways, the amount of RAM and CPU required by the EKM server to support multiple users should scale more or less linearly as concurrent users are added. For certain workloads, in terms of number of concurrent users, this factor can be viewed as a more or less fixed cost.

2. The amount of RAM and CPU required to execute external applications on the EKM server itself. External applications, such as ANSYS Workbench, are executed on the EKM server when simulation files are added to the EKM repository, in order to perform data extraction on those files. The amount of RAM and CPU required to perform these actions varies considerably with the size, type, and complexity of the simulation data. For large or complex simulation files, the cost in RAM and CPU to execute these external applications can be considerable, and can be several times the amount of RAM and CPU required by the EKM server itself, and the connected users, as described above. This can therefore be viewed as a variable cost, depending on the size, type and complexity of the simulation data you will be managing in EKM.

It is important to consider both of the above factors when determining how much RAM and CPU an EKM server will need to run smoothly under the anticipated workload, and with the size, type and complexity of the simulation data EKM will be managing.

The minimum hardware requirements presented in this section only account for the RAM and CPU requirements for the EKM server, and do not account for the variable cost of managing simulation data, which is highly dependent on the simulation data itself.

Cluster File Server

Disk space

- EKM base directory: At least 40 GB of disk space for storing the EKM server and applications.

- EKM data directory: Disk space required depends on the amount of data you archive in EKM, and could range from several GB to several TB depending on your requirements. Contact the Worldwide EKM Enterprise team for assistance with resource planning, or provide at least 200 GB of disk space for the EKM data directory.

- EKM job directory: Disk space required depends on the size and quantity of jobs you execute from EKM, and could range from several GB to several TB depending on your requirements. Contact the Worldwide EKM Enterprise team for assistance with resource planning, or provide at least 200 GB of disk space for the EKM job directory.

Cluster Database Server

Disk space

- EKM database: At least 40 GB of disk space for storing the EKM database and applications.

Cluster Node (each)

RAM and CPU

- RAM: 8 GB or more RAM is required.

- CPU: A minimum of 2 CPU cores of 2.0 GHz or higher CPU speed are required. Additional CPU cores will provide better performance.

Disk space

- EKM cluster node base directory: At least 40 GB of disk space for storing the EKM server and search index.

- EKM temp directory: At least 40 GB of disk space for temp files.

Note: These requirements apply to EACH cluster node. For example, if a host has 2 cluster nodes installed, the host should have 16 GB or more of RAM, 4 or more CPU cores, 80 GB or more disk space for the 2 cluster nodes, and 80 GB or more disk space for temp files.

Front-End Web Server

Disk space

- At least 10 GB of disk space for storing the installed applications, logs and temp files.

#### 4.1.1.2. Supported Operating System Versions

EKM is designed to run on Windows and Linux operating systems with an English locale. For a current list of supported operating system versions, visit the ANSYS Customer Portal:

https://support.ansys.com

#### 4.1.1.3. Required Software Applications

The following required software application prerequisites must be fulfilled before you can set up an EKM server using the ANSYS EKM Server product installation.

##### 4.1.1.3.1. Database Server Versions

EKM uses a database server to store user and program data. ANSYS EKM Server product installation can set up and configure a database server for use with EKM, or an existing database server can be configured manually for use with EKM.

ANSYS EKM Server product installation can set up and configure the following database servers for EKM:

- MySQL version 5.5 (5.5.41)

EKM can use the following existing database servers:

- MySQL version 5.5 (5.5.41)

- Oracle 11g

##### 4.1.1.3.2. Required Software Applications for EKM

EKM requires the following software applications to be installed in order to perform data extraction from supported CAE simulation file formats:

- ANSYS Multiphysics Products Version 18.2. This includes ANSYS Structural Mechanical, ANSYS CFX, ANSYS Fluent and ANSYS Workbench.

Note: The EKM File Transfer Client and Studio applications, which are launched via the Web Client, must have Java Runtime Edition (JRE) 1.8.0_121 or higher installed.

#### 4.1.1.4. ANSYS Licensing

EKM uses ANSYS Licensing. ANSYS Licensing consists of server and client components. In order to set up ANSYS licensing for EKM, both server and client licensing setup steps need to be performed:

- ANSYS License Manager and EKM License Setup

- ANSYS Client Licensing Setup

##### 4.1.1.4.1. ANSYS License Manager and EKM License Setup

In order to run EKM, an ANSYS License Manager must be available, and EKM licenses must be installed and available for EKM to check out. Follow these steps to set up the ANSYS License Manager (Server) and EKM licenses:

1. Make sure an ANSYS License Manager is available to serve the EKM licenses. If no ANSYS License Manager is available, install it somewhere:

   - The ANSYS License Manager that serves EKM licenses MUST use ANSYS License Manager version 18.2 or higher. The ANSYS License Manager can be installed by running ANSYS product installation.

   - The ANSYS License Manager does not need to be installed on the same host as EKM, but it can be.

   - If the ANSYS License Manager is on another host, that host must be reachable over the network from the hosts where EKM is installed.

2. Install the EKM licenses on your ANSYS License Manager, and verify that they are recognized and available. Refer to the ANSYS License Manager documentation for instructions.

   - EKM license keys are tied to a specific license manager host. This means that the license keys can only be loaded and served from the ANSYS License Manager running on the host that the license keys are tied to. The License Manager host may or may not be the same host as the host you intend to set up EKM on.

##### 4.1.1.4.2. ANSYS Client Licensing Setup

EKM communicates with the ANSYS License Manager through ANSYS Client Licensing. ANSYS Client Licensing MUST be installed on the system where the EKM server is set up[4].

ANSYS Client Licensing is installed automatically when ANSYS Multiphysics is installed. ANSYS Multiphysics is a prerequisite software application for EKM server, so any host where an EKM cluster node will be setup should already have ANSYS Client Licensing. If for some reason ANSYS Client Licensing is not installed, ANSYS Client Licensing is available as a standalone installer from the ANSYS Customer Portal: https://support.ansys.com/AnsysCustomerPortal/en_us. EKM uses ANSYS Client Licensing to check out EKM licenses.

Note: The ANSYS License Manager and ANSYS Client Licensing can be safely installed on the same machine.

To set up ANSYS Client Licensing:

1. Verify that ANSYS Client Licensing is installed. On Windows systems, there will be a Start Menu item for ANSYS Client Licensing:

   Start > ANSYS 18.2 > ANSYS Client Licensing

   If ANSYS Client Licensing is not installed, install it.

2. Run the ANSYS Client Licensing admin utility. On Windows systems, there will be a Start Menu item for the ANSYS Client Licensing admin utility:

   Start > ANSYS 18.2 > ANSYS Client Licensing > Client ANSLIC_ADMIN Utility 18.2

   Specify the location of the ANSYS License Manager serving the EKM licenses by clicking on the button labeled: Specify the License Server Machine

   and entering the hostname and network port of the ANSYS License Manager.

[4] If the ANSYS License Manager is installed on the system where the EKM server will be set up, it is not necessary to install the ANSYS Client Licensing, as the ANSYS License Manager also includes ANSYS Client Licensing.

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