MCSR

Abaqus at MCSR

Abaqus Research Edition is installed on MCSR’s SGI Altix 3700 system, Redwood. Several versions of Abaqus are installed and working on this supercomputer:

Abaqus Version 6.4-3 is installed in /usr/local/appl/abaqus/ and can be invoked by

/usr/local/appl/abaqus/Commands/abq643

Abaqus Version 6.4-3 is installed in /usr/local/appl/abaqus68/ and can be invoked by

/usr/local/appl/abaqus68/Commands/abq681

Abaqus Version 6.9-2 is installed in /usr/local/appl/abaqus69/ and can be invoked by

/usr/local/appl/abaqus69/Commands/abq692

Abaqus is subject to the same limitations on interactive jobs as other programs on Redwood; specifically, we allow some limited interactive job use for exploratory and testing purposes, but major production jobs (loosely defined, but certainly anything that’s going to take more than 30 minutes) must be run through our batch system, PBS. More information on PBS can be found here.

A sample Redwood Abaqus job based on the beam.inp example distributed with Abaqus can be found in TAR format here. When unpacked, this archive contains:

1. the Abaqus input file beam.inp;

2. the PBS job script beam.pbs;

3. a subfolder doc/ that in turn contains a marked-up version of beam.pbs with explanations for the scripts contents, instructions for what to change for new jobs, &c.; and,

4. a subfolder results/ that contains the various files produced by the job when it was run by MCSR staff.

Abaqus Viewer at MCSR

Running the Abaqus Viewer or other graphical interface from redwood will require that you connect to Redwood using a computer with an X windows server or emulator, and that you connect in a way that allows the X windows forwarding.

X windows servers are standard in all Linux distributions; Linux users should be able to connect to Redwood using the -X option to ssh to enable X windows forwarding:

ssh -X r9999@redwood.mcsr.olemiss.edu

Mac OSX users can connect in the same way, but must install and start the OSX X11 server before connecting. A description of the process for installing and using the OSX X11 server is available from Apple here. In a nutshell: X11 is distributed with OSX, but not preinstalled; so, you’ll have to go to the system installation disks that came with your Mac and install this software.

Windows platforms do not contain a native X windows server, and require a third-party emulation program. The University of Mississippi makes X windows emulation software available to employees and students free of charge. Click here for instructions on how to download and install XWin32 for Windows.

Abaqus at UM

In addition to maintaining Abaqus on Redwood, the UM/MCSR license for Abaqus allows the program to be installed on any computer owned by the University of Mississippi. Licensing for this program is handled by a central license server on a check-in/check-out basis; this means Abaqus can be installed on an arbitrary number of UM-owned computers, but can only be simultaneously used by a fixed number of users. The number of simultaneous users allowed varies by the type of license (teaching or research) requested by each user.

Installation media (typically in DVD form) and support are available from the MCSR staff. Installation media are available for Windows and Linux systems of all types; however, there is no version of Abaqus for Mac OSX. Mac users may use Abaqus on Redwood, or install a solution such as Parallels Desktop that allows Windows to run alongside OSX. Email assist@mcsr.olemiss.edu or call Brian Hopkins at (662) 915-5683 for more information.