Batch Connect - OSC ANSYS Workbench
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Ohio Supercomputer Center
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Batch Connect - OSC Ansys Workbench

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Overview

OSC Ansys Workbench is an Open OnDemand Batch Connect app that launches an Ansys Workbench as an interactive VNC desktop session on OSC HPC clusters. Ansys Workbench is an integrated simulation platform that includes CFX and Fluent solvers for computational fluid dynamics, structural analysis, and multiphysics simulations.

  • Upstream project: Ansys
  • Batch Connect template: vnc
  • Scheduler: Slurm

Screenshots

Ansys running in browser

Features

  • Launches interactive Ansys Workbench via VNC desktop on compute nodes (launches runwb2)
  • Includes CFX and Fluent solvers with multi-node parallel support
  • GPU-accelerated 3D visualization on vis nodes using VirtualGL
  • Mesa software rendering fallback on non-GPU nodes (CUE_GRAPHICS="mesa")
  • External license server support (configurable license server and file)
  • Optional parallel license reservation with automatic license calculation
  • Group-based access control (requires ansysflu group membership or external license)
  • Multi-node jobs with CFX parallel distributed start method
  • Xfce desktop environment with window manager
  • Configurable cores, wall time, Ansys version and node type via the launch form

Requirements

Compute Node Software

This Batch Connect app requires the following software be installed on the compute nodes that the batch job is intended to run on (NOT the OnDemand node):

For VNC server support:

For hardware rendering support:

Open OnDemand

  • Tested to work with the latest version of Open OnDemand
  • Scheduler: Slurm

Optional

  • Lmod 6.0.1+ or any other module purge and module load based CLI used to load appropriate environments within the batch job

App Installation

1. Clone the repository

cd /var/www/ood/apps/sys
git clone https://github.com/OSC/bc_osc_ansys_workbench.git
cd bc_osc_ansys_workbench

# Pin to a release (recommended)
git checkout v0.24.1

No restart is needed -- Batch Connect apps are not Passenger apps and are detected automatically.

2. Configure for your site

Edit form.yml and update these values for your cluster:

Attribute Default Change to
cluster "cardinal" Your cluster name
version "ansys/2024 R1" Version(s) of Ansys available on your system
node_type OSC-specific node types Node types available on your cluster
num_cores.max 96 Max cores on your compute nodes
user_license_provider osc or external Your license configuration

In script.sh.erb, the app loads modules with:

module load ansys/

On vis nodes, it additionally loads virtualgl Ensure equivalent modules are available on your system.

The submit.yml.erb manages ANSYS license tokens (ansys@osc, ansyspar@osc) and checks group membership (ansysflu). Update these references for your site's license server and group configuration.

To Update the App

cd /var/www/ood/apps/sys/bc_osc_ansys_workbench
git fetch
git checkout

No OOD restart is needed.

Configuration

form.yml attributes

Attribute Widget Description Default
cluster select Target cluster ID "cardinal"
version select Version of Ansys to load on compute node "ansys/2024R1"
bc_num_hours number Maximum wall time (hours) 4
bc_num_slots number Number of nodes (Fluent/CFX multi-node support) 1
num_cores number_field Number of cores per node (1--96, 4 GB per core) 1
reserve_parallel_licenses checkbox If selected, reserves Ansys parallel licenses for the duration of the job unchecked
node_type select Compute node type (any, vis, hugemem) any
bc_vnc_resolution text Resolution of VNC desktop session 1228 x 691
user_license_provider select License source: OSC license or external osc
extern_license_server text External license server (port@ip) --
extern_license_file text External license file (port@ip) --

Environment variables

Variable Required Description
ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE Yes Path to Ansys license source

Troubleshooting

Job starts but app doesn't appear (Batch Connect)

  1. Check the job's output.log in ~/ondemand/data/sys/bc_osc_ansys_workbench/
  2. Verify the module loads correctly: module load ansys/
  3. For VNC apps, verify the window manager is installed: which xfwm4

Connection timeout

The app may need more time to start. Increase the connection timeout or check that the compute node can open the required port.

Testing

Site OOD Version Scheduler Status
Ohio Supercomputer Center 4.2.2 Slurm Production

To verify your installation:

  1. Launch the app from the OOD dashboard with default settings
  2. Confirm the application loads in the browser

Known Limitations

  • Parallel licenses are shared across users; if licenses are not requested with the job, they are checked out at runtime, which can cause requested cores to differ from actual usage and reduce availability for other jobs.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. To contribute:

  1. Fork this repository
  2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/my-improvement)
  3. Submit a pull request with a description of your changes

For bugs or feature requests, open an issue.

This app is part of the OOD Appverse. Join the Appverse Affinity Group to connect with other contributors.

References

License

  • Documentation, website content, and logo is licensed under CC-BY-4.0
  • Code is licensed under MIT (see LICENSE.txt)
  • Ansys, Ansys Workbench, Ansoft, AUTODYN, CFX, FLUENT, HFSS and any and all Ansys, Inc. brand, product, service and feature names, logos and slogans are trademarks or registered trademarks of Ansys, Inc. or its subsidiaries located in the United States or other countries.

Acknowledgments

This app is built on Open OnDemand, developed and maintained by the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC).

Open OnDemand is supported by the National Science Foundation under awards NSF SI2-SSE-1534949 and NSF CSSI-Frameworks-1835725.

Apps in this repo