Parallelization with FePEST

Hi,

I'm currently trying to set up a problem in order to utilize at least two computers on the same network, that access the same license server. They all have access to one network drive (M:\) and the local drives (C:\ ) on each machine. I'm getting the following error log from my slave (172.21.75.244 is the host/master):

[2014-01-13 11:12:46] Started server.
[2014-01-13 11:12:46] Version 6.1.11.872
[2014-01-13 11:12:46] timeout=30000
[2014-01-13 11:12:46] port=4051
[2014-01-13 11:12:46]
[2014-01-13 11:12:58] Connected to client: 172.0.0.2
[2014-01-13 11:12:58] request=GET_VERSION;%UPLOAD_DIR%\pest\myfile.fps
[2014-01-13 11:12:58] cmd=GET_VERSION...
[2014-01-13 11:12:58] cmd=GET_VERSION completed.
[2014-01-13 11:12:58] Disconnected from client: 172.0.0.2
[2014-01-13 11:12:58]
[2014-01-13 11:12:58] Connected to client: 172.0.0.2
[2014-01-13 11:12:58] request=CLEAR_FILES;%UPLOAD_DIR%\pest\myfile.fps
[2014-01-13 11:12:58] cmd=CLEAR_FILES...
[2014-01-13 11:12:58] problemPath=C:\Users\User~1\AppData\Local\Temp\.fepest62\pest\myfile.fps
[2014-01-13 11:12:58] C:\Users\0RMDHM~1\AppData\Local\Temp\.fepest62\pest\myfile.fps not found, nothing to do.
[2014-01-13 11:12:58] cmd=CLEAR_FILES completed.
[2014-01-13 11:12:58] Disconnected from client: 172.0.0.2
[2014-01-13 11:12:58]

So obviously they're able to handshake so I don't think its a firewall issue (they're using the same port). The error that pops up on my host machine is "Password must not be empty!" and I have no idea why.

I think it may be because it needs to access \\172.0.0.2\Users\ rather than C:\Users\. If this file was located on the network drive, there shouldn't be a problem, but I don't think its possible to change the directory...

Thanks,

Adam

Hi Adam,

Thanks a lot for reporting this. Could you please send us both fem and fps files to the FEFLOW support address?

Cheers,

Carlos

Hi Adam,

Are you using the FePEST in-built parallelization feature? If so, it is not necessary to set up a network drive, FePEST uses an own network connection using the port you provided to transfer the files. You only need to take care that FEFLOW (incl. any plug-ins that might be in use) is installed on both Slave and Host machine.

The error itself comes from the FEFLOW kernel, and is probably related to the encryption mechanism that is used when the data is transmitted. The error message however does not say why this is happening. The FEFLOW support will be able to help you in better detail.

Hi Carlos and Alexander,

To answer your questions, I am using the FePEST in-built parallelization feature as outlined in the 6.2 manual. I understand it is not necessary to set up a network drive, but this network drive is where we store all of our FEFLOW files so that all computers connected to the network can easily access them. This network drive is the only drive that is backed up, so storing anything on the local drives is not ideal.

Both the slave and the host machine have licensed copies of FEFLOW 6.2 with FePEST utilities all set up.

I can across possibly a related issue when trying to run a file created by another user. When I was trying to run FePEST, it said that the fem file could not be found on the drive. The problem is that the path I set and the path it looks at does not exist. For example, if I point to \\networkdrive\myfile.fem it instead points to \\networkdrive\myfile\myfile.fem when running, which is not a valid path...

Hi Adam,

Thanks for sending us your files. After developer checked case, he could reproduce your problem. The reason is that the FEM file was saved in ASCII format. If you save in a binary format, problem is gone.

A future version of FePEST will handle this special case, but until then please use this workaround.

Cheers,

Carlos