Chapter 4: Using EKM

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3.2. Configuration Options |  | EKM User's Guide
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## Chapter 4: Using EKM

Once EKM has been installed, set up, initialized, and configured, you can start using it. To help you get started, the main features of EKM are outlined below.

## Accessing EKM for the First Time

To find out how to launch EKM and sign in using your credentials, see Connecting to an EKM Server in the EKM User’s Guide. Once you are signed in, refer to The EKM Environment to get acquainted with the EKM interface. A quick overview of the interface is shown below:

Figure 4.1: The EKM Interface

By default, a Welcome dialog box appears when you sign in to EKM. It contains the same overview of the interface shown above, and provides links to other resources that can help you get started. You can prevent the dialog box from appearing in the future by disabling the Show at sign-in check box, or by editing your Settings.

## Navigating in EKM

EKM is divided into five main sections: Home, Data, Jobs, Processes, and Administration. You navigate to different sections using the drop box in the top left corner of the application window. Each section has one or more pages of content. For example, the Data section has five pages: My Data, Shared Data, Starred, Recent, and Extraction Monitor. The breadcrumb trail shows you which page is currently selected, and which object is currently selected (if any). You can click on the labels and arrows in the breadcrumb trail to navigate to other folders or objects within the trail. All of these navigational aids are illustrated in Figure 4.1: The EKM Interface.

## Uploading Files

You can upload data to an EKM repository using any of the following options:

- Files/Archives Using Browser: This can be used when you want to add one or more files or archive files as long as the size of the file is less than 2 GB. See Uploading Files/Archives Using the Web Client Browser in the EKM User’s Guide.

- Files/Archives Using EKM File Transfer Client: This can be used when you want to add one or more files or archive files of any size. See Uploading Files Using the File Transfer Client in the EKM User’s Guide.

- File/Folder from Server: Use this to transfer a file or folder from the server. See Uploading Files from the Server in the EKM User’s Guide.

- Using ANSYS Workbench: You can upload projects from Workbench to EKM. See Saving a Project to an EKM Repository in the Workbench User’s Guide.

## Creating Connections to Files/Folders on a Remote Server

You can create a reference to a file or folder that physically resides on a remote file server, without having to upload it. This can be done after a Remote File Server has been defined by an `admin` user. See Creating a Connection to a Remote File or Folder in the EKM User’s Guide.

## Downloading Files

You can download data from an EKM repository using any of the following options:

- Using the Browser: Use this to download single files or folders to your local computer. Folders or other containers are archived in a .zip file before they are downloaded and can then be extracted on your local machine. See Downloading Files/Folders Using the Browser in the EKM User’s Guide.

- Using the EKM File Transfer Client: Use this to download large or multiple files and folders, and when you want to use a cache service. See Downloading Files/Folders Using the EKM File Transfer Client in the EKM User’s Guide.

- To a Folder on Server: Use to transfer a file or folder from the repository to the EKM server. Here, the EKM server refers to the machine where files are generated when a job is executed using EKM and RSM. See Downloading a File or Folder to the Server in the EKM User’s Guide.

- Using ANSYS Workbench: To download projects and files in EKM from Workbench. See Opening a Project from an EKM Repository in the Workbench User Guide.

## Managing Data

EKM supports all common data management operations, most of which can be accessed from the Edit menu. Common operations include:

- Copy/Paste

- Cut/Paste

- Rename

- Delete

- Lock/Unlock

- Permissions

- Properties

- Alerts

See Managing Repository Data for more information.

## Searching for Files

EKM provides the following types of search options:

- Full text search: For a keyword search over file content. See Performing a Keyword Search in the EKM User’s Guide.

- Property-based search: For an advanced search using object properties. See Performing an Advanced Search in the EKM User’s Guide.

- Report-based search: For an advanced search of results using report content. See Searching Results for Report Content in the EKM User’s Guide.

## Viewing Reports

EKM provides the following reporting options:

- Comparison Reports: To compare and analyze two or more objects. See Comparison Reports in the EKM User’s Guide.

- Simulation Details Reports: To get the detailed input settings of simulations. These reports are automatically created for simulation files on upload. See Simulation Details Reports in the EKM User’s Guide.

- Process Reports. To capture details about a process. See Creating a Process Report in the EKM User’s Guide.

## Versioning and Access Control

Once an object has been added to EKM, you can control access to it in different ways:

- Set permissions on the object that permit (or restrict) access by users and groups. See Editing Permissions in the EKM User’s Guide.

- Get exclusive control of the object, which gives you exclusive edit privileges and prevents others from modifying it. When you are done modifying the object, you can release control of it. See Getting Exclusive Control of an Object in the EKM User’s Guide.

- Place the object under version control. Editing objects in a “controlled check-in” environment ensures that only one user is modifying an object at any given time, and that their modifications are captured exclusively in the version they are working on. See Adding Objects to Version Control in the EKM User’s Guide.

## Defining Lifecycles

A lifecycle is a set of sequential stages that a file or folder moves through during its lifetime. There are two ways to define a lifecycle:

- Using EKM Studio, a built-in application with a simple point-and-click interface (see Defining Lifecycles in EKM Studio in the EKM Administration Guide)

- Using XML (see Appendix C: Lifecycles: Defining and Configuring Using XML see Defining Lifecycles in EKM Studio in the EKM Administration Guide)

## Defining Process Templates

A process template defines a set of tasks that users and machines perform to achieve a specific goal. There are two ways to define a process template:

- Using EKM Studio (see Defining Process Templates in EKM Studio in the EKM User’s Guide)

- Using XML (see Appendix A: Defining a Process Template Using XML in the EKM User’s Guide)

Once a template has been defined you can execute a process from it. See Starting a Process in the EKM User’s Guide.

## Creating Analysis Projects

An Analysis Project folder is a special type of folder that can be used to store all of the data pertaining to a simulation. You can track dependencies of objects contained within the project or across multiple projects, and update the analysis if an upstream dependency has changed. See Working With Analysis Projects in the EKM User’s Guide.

## Creating Custom Applications

You can define custom interfaces and applications that can be used to run automated tasks and produce outputs in EKM. See Defining Custom Dialogs, Wizards and Applications in the EKM Administration Guide.

## Performing Remote Simulations

You can run simulation jobs remotely from EKM by specifying job submission settings such as the application to be executed, queue, and command line arguments. The jobs are then run on the associated compute clusters. You can track the progress of jobs and access simulation results that are generated on the cluster hardware. See the Managing Jobs chapter in the EKM User’s Guide.

## Working with ANSYS Workbench Projects

You can connect to an EKM repository from ANSYS Workbench. Once you have connected to the repository, you can save Workbench projects directly to the repository, open projects from the repository, and send and get project changes. You can also import input files from a single repository to a given Workbench project and track the dependency of the imported file in the Workbench project. For information about all of these topics, see the Working with ANSYS Workbench and EKM chapter in the Workbench User’s Guide.

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