HFSS15: Balancing Resources for Solver Domains

The Use Solver Domains option for large models requires that you provide resources for the distributed solve by adding machines to the distributed machine pool.

Because the domains should be roughly the same size, you should provide balanced resources. As an example of balancing the load, suppose that machine called Patriot has 256 GB and another called Cutlass has 64 GB. If you want up to five domains, it makes sense to enter Patriot in the pool four times and Cutlass once.

Under HFSS Options, you should set the Desired RAM Limit (Mem_Limit_Soft) to the memory desired for each individual domain.

In the example above, a good choice for Mem_Limit_Soft would be 64 GB.

Remember:

• A machine can appear in the pool more than once. The user should use this capability to maintain a balanced load.

• The first machine in the pool is used to control domain iterations.

• Under HFSS Options, the Number of Processors is also set per domain.

In the example above, a machine named Patriot has 16 processors and a machine named Cutlass has 8 processors. Four domains will go on Patriot, so Number of Processors should be set to 4. Four processors on Cutlass will be unused.

Recommendation: it is more important to use memory efficiently than to use all the processors.