8.2.1. Required Steps

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Administration Guide | Chapter 8: Integrating EKM with Remote Solve Manager (RSM) | 8.2. Steps for Setting Up Batch Job Submission |

8.2. Steps for Setting Up Batch Job Submission |  | 8.2.2. Optional/Additional Steps
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### 8.2.1. Required Steps

1. Install Workbench and ANSYS applications. RSM is automatically installed with Workbench. For information about the installation of RSM, refer to RSM Installation and Startup in the RSM User's Guide.

   ANSYS applications (Fluent, CFX, MAPDL, and so on) should be installed on the machine(s) where you will be running jobs. They should be installed in a way that they can be accessed by the RSM machine and any other cluster machines being used.

   Important:

   - In order to run jobs successfully in EKM, the installed version of RSM must be exactly the same version as EKM. For example, EKM 18.2 will not work with RSM 16.2.

   - If users will be submitting jobs to EKM from pre-18.2 versions of Workbench, the machine(s) on which jobs will run must have the matching version of ANSYS applications installed. For example, if users will be submitting Fluent jobs from Workbench 17.2 to an EKM 18.2 portal, you must have Fluent 17.2 installed on the cluster.

   - If jobs will be submitted to a remote cluster, whether it be an ANSYS RSM Cluster (ARC) or third-party cluster such as LSF or Microsoft HPC, RSM must be installed on the cluster submit host, and the RSM launcher service must be running on that host before job submission can begin.

   - After installing RSM, do not start the RSM launcher service until you have configured RSM. If you will be using the automated script to configure RSM, the script will start RSM services for you. See Configuring RSM Using an Automated Script. If you will not be using the automated script, you will need to start RSM launcher service manually. See Installing and Configuring the RSM Launcher Service in the RSM User's Guide.

   - If after installing and configuring RSM you wish to install another ANSYS product using the ANSYS unified installer, make sure that you stop the RSM launcher service before proceeding with the installation, and then restart it after the installation. For instructions refer to RSM Installation and Setup in the RSM User’s Guide.

2. Set the value of the `ConfigurationDirectory` setting in the `RSM\Config\Ans.Rsm.AppSettings.config` file, which determines where RSM configuration files will be generated. This must be a shared directory on the cluster submit host (where the RSM launcher service is running).

   You can do this in one of the following ways:

   - Specify the directory in EKM using an automated script. See Configuring RSM Using an Automated Script. If you use the script, the directory will be created automatically.

   - Specify the directory in RSM. See Specifying a Directory for Cluster Configuration Files in the RSM User's Guide.

3. Create cluster configurations. A cluster configuration contains information about the cluster submit host, the system used for job scheduling, desired communication protocols, and the location of job directories. When defining a cluster configuration you also define RSM queues that will appear in EKM when users submit jobs. Each RSM queue maps to a particular cluster configuration and cluster queue. See RSM Configuration in the RSM User's Guide.

   You can create cluster configurations in the following ways:

   - (Recommended) Use the Manage Cluster Configurations feature in EKM. This option is ideal if it is difficult to display an interface on the machine where the RSM launcher service is running. It is designed specifically for EKM-RSM setups to ensure that cluster job submission is correctly configured. See Creating and Editing Cluster Configurations in EKM.

   - Use the RSM Cluster Configuration application. See RSM Configuration in the RSM User's Guide.

   - Use the RSM Utilities application to manually generate RSM configuration files. See Managing RSM Cluster Configurations and Queues (rsm.exe | rsmutils config) in the RSM User's Guide.

   - Use an automated script in EKM. See Configuring RSM Using an Automated Script.

   Note that the first two options are preferred because they provide validation of the cluster configurations that you create.

   Regardless of the method you choose, take note of the following EKM-specific requirements when defining a cluster configuration:

   - The Cluster Staging Directory property or `<stagingDirectory>` setting in the cluster configuration (.rsmcc) file must always be left blank. This is because EKM stages job data in the job data directory specified in the `jobSourceRootPath` setting in the ekm.xml file. For more information about this setting, see Specifying Remote Process Policies (<remoteProcess>).

   - When specifying client-to-cluster file management properties, ensure that the No file transfer needed option is selected, or that the `<fileCopyOption>` in the.rsmcc file is set to `None`.

   - When specifying cluster-side file management properties, the use of a local scratch directory is supported for MAPDL/Mechanical solutions only. If using other solvers, you must use a shared staging directory.

4. Ensure that EKM and RSM job directories are correctly defined. See EKM and RSM Job Directories.

5. Start the RSM launcher service. If jobs will be submitted to a remote cluster, start the RSM launcher service on the cluster submit host. For more information see Installing and Configuring the RSM Launcher Service in the RSM User's Guide.

6. If you will be using an ANSYS RSM Cluster (ARC) as your batch queuing system, install the ARC cluster services. Refer to either Installing ARC Cluster Services on Windows (installservice) or Installing ARC Cluster Services on Linux in the RSM User's Guide. Otherwise, if you will be using a third-party cluster (SGE, LSF, and so on), you can skip this step.

7. If jobs will be submitted to a remote cluster, edit the following settings in the `EKM_HOME/conf/`ekm.xml file:

   `jobSourceRootPath`: Specify the path to the directory where EKM will stage the data files for batch jobs submitted to RSM. You must create this directory before job submission begins. This directory must be accessible to the cluster submit host. To avoid file transfers you can set this path to a shared cluster staging directory.

   `rsmLauncherURL`: Change the value from `localhost` to the host name of the cluster submit host (where the ANSYS RSM Launcher service is running).

   For more details about these settings, such as using a `jobSourceRootPath` relative to users' home directories on Linux, see Specifying Remote Process Policies (<remoteProcess>).

8. In EKM, synchronize EKM job submission queues with those defined in RSM. See Synchronizing Job Submission Queues.

9. For each job submission queue in EKM, load or create application definitions that determine the applications to be run. See Editing Job Submission Queue Settings and Defining External Applications.

#### 8.2.1.1. Required Configuration for Electronics Batch Jobs

If users will be submitting Electronics jobs, you must specify an environment variable on the compute nodes where such jobs will run which contain the path to the installation directory of Electronics Desktop. You can specify different environment variables for different versions of the application. For example, specify a variable named AEDT_ROOT170 for a version 17.0 installation, and AEDT_ROOT182 for a version 18.2 installation.

#### 8.2.1.2. Configuring RSM Using an Automated Script

Once you have installed RSM, you must configure it to work with EKM. This can be done using the RSM Cluster Configuration application and RSM utilities (see RSM Configuration in the RSM User's Guide).

As an alternative, a script is provided in the `EKM_HOME\examples\rsm` folder which enables you to configure RSM from EKM.

Running the `enable-portal-setting.cmd[sh]` script does the following:

- Enables the `LauncherService` setting in the `RSM\Config\Ans.Rsm.AppSettings.config` file:

       <appSettings name="LauncherService">
          <add key="LauncherXmlRpcEnabled" value="true" />

  Note that the `LauncherService` is enabled by default, and should not be disabled.

- Sets the value of the `ConfigurationDirectory` setting in the `RSM\Config\Ans.Rsm.AppSettings.config` file, which determines where RSM configuration files will be generated:

      <appSettings name="JobManagement">
          <add key="CompressionThresholdMb" value="0" />
          <add key="CleanupTimeSpan" value="00:10:00" />
          <add key="FinishedJobHistoryCleanupTimeSpan" value="02:00:00" />
          <add key="FailedJobHistoryCleanupTimeSpan" value="1.00:00:00" />
          <add key="CancelJobHistoryCleanupTimeSpan" value="00:10:00" />
          <add key="GlobalPropertiesReloadDelay" value="00:00:05" />
          <add key="JobsWatcherPeriodMs" value="5000" />
          <add key="LogWatcherPeriodMs" value="1000" />
          <add key="AsyncResultPollingTimeoutMs" value="1000" />
          <add key="CatchAllStatusExceptions" value="false" />
          <add key="ConfigurationDirectory" value="\some\local\path" />

  If the specified directory does not exist, it will be created automatically.

- Creates the RSM ClusterConfiguration (.rsmcc) and ConfiguredQueue (.rsmq) files in the specified configuration directory. Note that this is not the preferred way to create cluster configurations. Using the RSM Cluster Configuration application is recommended because the application validates cluster configurations when you create them.

- Starts the RSM launcher service. In Windows, `enable-portal-setting.cmd` also registers the service as a Windows service.

Important: Prior to running the script, make sure that you have set the `AWP_ROOT182` environment variable.

To configure RSM automatically using a script:

1. If the RSM launcher service is currently running, stop it.

   - In Windows, as an administrator, run `net stop RSMLauncherService182`.

   - In Linux, run `rsmlauncher stop`.

2. Go to `EKM_HOME\examples\rsm` and open the `enable-portal-setting.cmd[sh]` script in a text editor.

   (Optional) Uncomment the `rsm config` command that corresponds to your cluster type, and optionally specify arguments to configure the cluster configuration.

       rem Uncomment one of the following "rsm config" commands:

       rem (1) Local RSM sample...
       "%AWP_ROOT182%\RSM\bin\rsm.exe" config create default

       rem (2) LSF sample...
       rem "%AWP_ROOT182%\RSM\bin\rsm.exe" config create LSF -name lsfcc -rsmQueue mylsfqueue
       -clusterQueue lsfqueue1 -p lin

       rem (3) Win HPC (using local scratch) sample...
       rem "%AWP_ROOT182%\RSM\bin\rsm.exe" config create MSHPC -name MSHpcConfiguration
       -localscratch c:\rsmtemphpc -scratchUnc rsmtemphpc -rsmQueue MsHpcQueue -p win

   Note: It is highly recommended that you create cluster configurations using either the RSM Cluster Configuration application or the Manage Cluster Configurations feature in EKM, as they both provide validation functionality.

3. Running as Administrator, use a command line to go to `EKM_HOME/examples/rsm`.

4. Use `enable-portal-setting.cmd[sh]` along with a parameter that specifies the location of the configuration directory. This is the directory where the .rsmcc and .rsmq files will be generated. Referring to the sample below, replace `/some/path` with a local path on the RSM server that is read/write accessible to the user running the RSM launcher service (for example, `D:\RSMData`).

   `enable-portal-setting.cmd /some/path`

   If the directory that you specify does not currently exist, it will be created automatically.

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