The Sun BluePrints article "Sun Business Ready HPC for ANSYS FLUENT: Configuration guidelines for Optimizing ANSYS FLUENT Performance" by William Aiken (login or registration required) explores the parameters to be considered when defining a processing configuration for ANSYS FLUENT. The number of cores (independent computing elements), amount of memory, and interconnect options are discussed. For situations where a significant amount of file I/O will occur, an overview of parallel and serial file system operations and storage subsystems is also provided. Aiken discusses the configuration requirements for running ANSYS FLUENT in a high-performance clustered environment on Sun systems, presenting sample performance data and detailed suggestions for designing and configuring a complete solution that addresses the most demanding ANSYS FLUENT workloads.

Specifically, the article addresses the following topics:

• “Constructing a Compute Cluster for ANSYS FLUENT,” a description of ANSYS FLUENT and general sizing information regarding node count, memory, disk, and interconnect configurations that can help optimize performance.

• “Recommended Configuration,” includes information on a Sun Business Ready HPC Solution that satisfies the requirements of ANSYS FLUENT workloads.

• “Appendix A: ANSYS FLUENT Benchmark Models,” includes information on a range of ANSYS FLUENT benchmark models that can be helpful in evaluating the performance capabilities of a particular configuration.

• “Appendix B: The Lustre file system,” includes information on the characteristics and benefits of the Lustre file system.

The author assumes a basic understanding of ANSYS FLUENT and the capabilities it provides in this document, which is written primarily for IT administrators who deploy and configure ANSYS FLUENT, and for experienced users who are interested in performance-related issues. Aiken notes that, to achieve optimal performance, compute, storage, network, and software component choices must be well suited to the job characteristics of ANSYS FLUENT. For the compute portion, a blade system — such as the Sun Blade 6000 Modular System — that supports multiple nodes and high memory density in a compact form factor can provide an ideal base building block. An InfiniBand high-speed interconnect is required to meet the intense MPI demands of ANSYS FLUENT. Scheduling software helps to ensure efficient use of resources, making it another important part of any ANSYS FLUENT solution, he writes, then provides recommendations for each major component of a ANSYS FLUENT solution.

More Information

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