HowTo How To

2011-02-17

: Ensight Howto HowTo EnSight92_Docs

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Load Spatially Decomposed Case Files
Read User Defined
Do Structured Extraction
Use Block Continuation
Use Resource Management
Save or Output
Manipulate Viewing Parameters
Manipulate Tools
Visualize Data
Create and Manipulate Variables
Query, Probe, Plot
Manipulate Parts
Animate
Annotate
Configure EnSight
Setup For Parallel Computation
Setup For Parallel Rendering
Miscellaneous
- Select Files

Page 1

Introduction

Use the Online Documentation

Using The How To Manual

EnSight Overview

Connect EnSight Client and Server

Command Line Start-up Options

Use Environment Variables

Use MPI

Read and Load Data

Read Data

Use ens_checker

Load Multiple Datasets (Cases)

Load Transient Data

Use Server of Servers

Load Spatially Decomposed Case Files

Read User Defined

Do Structured Extraction

Use Block Continuation

Use Resource Management

Save or Output

Save or Restore an Archive

Record and Play Command Files

Print/Save an Image

Save Geometric Entities

Save/Restore Context

Save Scenario

Save/Restore Session

Output for Povray

Manipulate Viewing Parameters

Rotate, Zoom, Translate, Scale

Set Drawing Mode (Line, Surface, Hidden Line)

Set Global Viewing Parameters

Set Z Clipping

Set LookFrom / LookAt

Set Auxiliary Clipping

Define and Change Viewports

Control Lighting Attributes

Display Remotely

Save and Restore Viewing Parameters

Create and Manipulate Frames

Reset Tools and Viewports

Use the Color Selector

Enable Stereo Viewing

Pick Center of Transformation

Set Model Axis/Extent Bounds

Do Viewport Tracking

View a Viewport Through a Camera

Manage Views

Manipulate Tools

Use the Cursor (Point) Tool

Use the Line Tool

Use the Plane Tool

Use the Box Tool

Use the Cylinder Tool

Use the Sphere Tool

Use the Cone Tool

Use the Surface of Revolution Tool

Use the Selection Tool

Use the Spline Tool

Visualize Data

Introduction to Part Creation

Create Contours

Create Isosurfaces

Create Particle Traces

Create Clips

Create Clip Lines

Create Clip Planes

Create Box Clips

Create Quadric Clips

Create IJK Clips

Create XYZ Clips

Create RTZ Clips

Create Revolution Tool Clips

Create Revolution of 1D Part Clips

Create General Quadric Clips

Create Clip Splines

Create Vector Arrows

Create Elevated Surfaces

Extrude Parts

Create Profile Plots

Create Developed (Unrolled) Surfaces

Create Subset Parts

Create Tensor Glyphs

Display Displacements

Display Discrete or Experimental Data

Change Time Steps

Extract Vortex Cores

Extract Separation and Attachment Lines

Extract Shock Surfaces

Create Material Parts

Remove Failed Elements

Do Element Blanking

Use Point Parts

Create and Manipulate Variables

Activate Variables

Create New Variables

Extract Boundary Layer Variables

Edit Color Palettes

Use Volume Rendering

Query, Probe, Plot

Get Point, Node, Element, and Part Information

Probe Interactively

Query/Plot

Table of Contents

Index Alphabetical Listing

Page 2

Change Plot Attributes

Query Datasets

Manipulate Parts

Change Color

Copy a Part

Group Parts

Merge Parts

Extract Part Representations

Cut Parts

Delete a Part

Change the Visual Representation

Set Attributes

Display Labels

Set Transparency

Select Parts

Set Symmetry

Map Textures

Animate

Animate Transient Data

Create a Flipbook Animation

Create a Keyframe Animation

Animate Particle Traces

Annotate

Create Text Annotation

Create Lines

Create 2D Shapes

Create 3D Arrows

Create Dials

Create Gauges

Load Custom Logos

Create Color Legends

Manipulate Fonts

Configure EnSight

Customize Icon Bars

Customize Mouse Button Actions

Save GUI Settings

Define and Use Macros

Set or Modify Preferences

Enable User Defined Input Devices

Produce Customized Pop-Up Menus

Produce Customized Access to Tools & Fea-

tures

Setup For Parallel Computation

Setup For Parallel Rendering

Miscellaneous

Select Files

Page 3

Print/Save an Image, 98

Activate Variables, 273

Animate Particle Traces, 365

Animate Transient Data, 348

Change Color, 314

Change Plot Attributes, 305

Change the Visual Representation, 322

Change Time Steps, 256

Command Line Start-up Options, 22

Connect EnSight Client and Server, 12

Control Lighting Attributes, 142

Copy a Part, 316

Create 2D Shapes, 373

Create 3D Arrows, 375

Create a Flipbook Animation, 351

Create a Keyframe Animation, 355

Create and Manipulate Frames, 145

Create Box Clips, 222

Create Clip Lines, 214

Create Clip Planes, 217

Create Clip Splines, 236

Create Clips, 213

Create Color Legends, 383

Create Contours, 198

Create Developed (Unrolled) Surfaces, 247

Create Dials, 377

Create Elevated Surfaces, 243

Create Gauges, 380

Create General Quadric Clips, 234

Create IJK Clips, 225

Create Isosurfaces, 200

Create Lines, 371

Create Material Parts, 265

Create New Variables, 275

Create Particle Traces, 204

Create Profile Plots, 246

Create Quadric Clips, 223

Create Revolution of 1D Part Clips, 233

Create Revolution Tool Clips, 232

Create RTZ Clips, 230

Create Subset Parts, 248

Create Tensor Glyphs, 249

Create Text Annotation, 367

Create Vector Arrows, 238

Create XYZ Clips, 228

Customize Icon Bars, 390

Customize Mouse Button Actions, 392

Cut Parts, 320

Define and Change Viewports, 133

Define and Use Macros, 395

Delete a Part, 321

Display Discrete or Experimental Data, 254

Display Displacements, 251

Display Labels, 329

Display Remotely, 143

Do Element Blanking, 269

Do Structured Extraction, 73

Do Viewport Tracking, 159

Edit Color Palettes, 285

Enable Stereo Viewing, 155

Enable User Defined Input Devices, 416

EnSight Overview, 10

Extract Boundary Layer Variables, 283

Extract Part Representations, 319

Extract Separation and Attachment Lines, 261

Extract Shock Surfaces, 263

Extract Vortex Cores, 259

Extrude Parts, 244

Get Point, Node, Element, and Part Information, 291

Group Parts, 317

Introduction to Part Creation, 191

Load Custom Logos, 382

Load Multiple Datasets (Cases), 52

Load Spatially Decomposed Case Files, 66

Load Transient Data, 57

Manage Views, 162

Manipulate Fonts, 386

Map Textures, 338

Merge Parts, 318

Output for Povray, 116

Pick Center of Transformation, 156

Probe Interactively, 294

Produce Customized Access to Tools & Features, 424

Produce Customized Pop-Up Menus, 417

Query Datasets, 313

Query/Plot, 297

Read Data, 36

Read User Defined, 72

Record and Play Command Files, 95

Remove Failed Elements, 267

Reset Tools and Viewports, 152

Rotate, Zoom, Translate, Scale, 120

Save and Restore Viewing Parameters, 144

Save Geometric Entities, 106

Save GUI Settings, 394

Save or Restore an Archive, 92

Save Scenario, 112

Save/Restore Context, 110

Save/Restore Session, 115

Select Files, 434

Select Parts, 332

Set Attributes, 324

Set Auxiliary Clipping, 132

Set Drawing Mode (Line, Surface, Hidden Line), 123

Set Global Viewing Parameters, 125

Set LookFrom / LookAt, 129

Set Model Axis/Extent Bounds, 157

Set or Modify Preferences, 399

Set Symmetry, 335

Set Transparency, 331

Set Z Clipping, 127

Setup For Parallel Computation, 432

Setup For Parallel Rendering, 433

Use Block Continuation, 79

Use ens_checker, 46

Use Environment Variables, 28

Use MPI, 31

Use Point Parts, 271

Page 4

Use Resource Management, 84

Use Server of Servers, 59

Use the Box Tool, 174

Use the Color Selector, 154

Use the Cone Tool, 181

Use the Cursor (Point) Tool, 164

Use the Cylinder Tool, 177

Use the Line Tool, 166

Use the Online Documentation, 5

Use the Plane Tool, 169

Use the Selection Tool, 186

Use the Sphere Tool, 179

Use the Spline Tool, 189

Use the Surface of Revolution Tool, 183

Use Volume Rendering, 289

Using The How To Manual, 7

View a Viewport Through a Camera, 160

Page 5

Introduction

Use the Online Documentation

INTRODUCTION

The EnSight online documentation consists of:

WHERE TO START?

If you are new to EnSight you should read the EnSight Overview article. Chapter 1 and Chapter 5 in the User

Manual also provide overview information. The Introduction to Part Creation provides fundamental information on

EnSight’s part concept.

PDF READER

The EnSight online documentation is in pdf format. EnSight uses a pdf reader such as the Acrobat® Reader software

from Adobe Systems, Inc., Xpdf, or Apple’s Preview. Any of these readers provide similar capabilities. For the

purposes of this documentation, the Acrobat Reader will be pictured. A pdf reader provides much the same

functionality as a World Wide Web browser while providing greater control over document content quality. To use a

different reader (from the default), simply set the environment variable CEI_PDFREADER to a different reader

application. See How To Use the How To Manual for more information on using a pdf reader.

Installation Guide Consists of a .pdf file in the doc directory (as well as being available for easy reading

from the web install page). Also goes out as hardcopy with an EnSight distribution CD.

Getting Started

Manual

The Getting Started Manual contains basic Graphical User Interface overview

information and several tutorials. This manual is not cross-referenced with any of the

other manuals.

How To Manual The How To documentation consists of relatively short articles that describe how to

perform a specific operation in EnSight, such as change the color of an object or

create an isosurface. Step-by-step instructions and pictures of relevant dialogs are

included. In addition, each How To article typically contains numerous hyperlinks

(colored blue) to other related articles (and relevant sections of the User Manual).

Note that, although the entries in the How To table of contents and index are not

colored blue, you can still click on an entry and jump to the appropriate document.

How To Use the How To Manual

How To Table of Contents

How To Index

User Manual The User Manual is a more traditional document providing a detailed reference for

EnSight. The User Manual contains blue hyperlinks as well. Both the User Manual

table of contents and index entries are hotlinked as well as cross-reference entries

within chapters (which typically start with “See Section ...” or “See How To ...”).

User Manual Table of Contents

User Manual Index

Command Language

Manual

The Command Language Reference Manual documents command language used

within EnSight. This manual contains some cross-references to the How To and User

Manuals, but cross-referencing from them back is extremely minimal.

Interface Manual The Interface Manual contains the information needed for creating user-defined

readers, creating user-defined writers, creating user-defined math functions,

interacting with EnSight through the external command driver, and using the EnSight

python interpreter.

Page 6

HOW TO PRINT THE DOCUMENTATION

Printing Topics From a PDF Reader

You can easily print any topic in the How To manual or any pages from the other documentation from within the pdf

reader. The documents have been optimized for screen manipulation, but will still produce decent hardcopy printouts.

To print a topic:

1. Navigate to the topic you want to print.

2. Choose Print... from the File menu.

3. Be sure the Printer Command setting is correct for your environment and then click OK. Your document should

print to the selected (or default) printer. If you do not have a printer available on your network or you wish to save

the PostScript file to disk, you can do so: click the File button, enter a filename, and click OK.

Printing EnSight Manuals

You can print (all or portions of) the EnSight manuals from provided .pdf files. These files have been print optimized

and should produce reasonably high quality hardcopy. They have all been formatted for letter size paper. These files

are located in the doc/Manuals directory of the EnSight installation.

$CEI_HOME/ensight92/doc/Manuals/GettingStarted.pdf

$CEI_HOME/ensight92/doc/Manuals/HowTo.pdf

$CEI_HOME/ensight92/doc/Manuals/UserManual.pdf

$CEI_HOME/ensight92/doc/Manuals/CLmanual.pdf

$CEI_HOME/ensight92/doc/Manuals/InterfaceManual.pdf

You can open these manuals in the pdf reader and print any or all pages, or send them to an outside source for

printing, or order printed copies from our website.

CONTACTING CEI

If you have questions or problems, please contact CEI:

Computational Engineering International, Inc.

2166 N. Salem Street, Suite 101

Apex, NC 27523 USA

Email: support@ensight.com

Hotline: 800-551-4448 (U.S.)

919-363-0883 (Non-U.S.)

Phone: 919-363-0883

FAX: 919-363-0833

WWW: http://www.ceintl.com or http://www.ensight.com

Page 7

Using The How To Manual

INTRODUCTION

The “How To” documentation provides quick access to various topics of interest. The topics provide basic and some

advanced usage information about a specific tool or feature of EnSight. Each topic will provide links to the

appropriate section of the EnSight User Manual as well as links to other applicable How To articles. When you hit a

Help button within the various dialogs in EnSight, you will generally be taken to one of the topics in the “How To”

manual.

Topics typically contain the following sections:

(See below for how to quickly jump to a specific section using document navigation.)

The header and footer of each article page provides simple navigation controls:

In addition, links to other documents are displayed as highlighted text. Note that all links and navigation controls

(except index and table of contents) are colored blue.

PDF READER

The EnSight online documentation is in .pdf format. EnSight uses a pdf reader such as the Acrobat® Reader software

from Adobe Systems, Inc., Xpdf, or Apple’s Preview. Any of these readers provide similar capabilities. For the

purposes of this documentation, the Acrobat Reader is pictured. A pdf reader provides much the same functionality

as a World Wide Web browser while providing greater control over document content quality. To use a different pdf

reader, simply set the environment variable CEI_PDFREADER to a different reader application.

The user interface for the various pdf readers is very simple and provides intuitive navigation controls. Keep in mind

that the pages were designed to be viewed at 100% magnification. Although you can use other magnification

settings, the quality of the dialog images may be degraded.

Introduction Introduction to the topic

Basic Operation Quick steps for simple usage

Advanced Usage Detailed information on topic

Other Notes Other items of interest

See Also Links to related topics and documentation

Return to How To

Topics List

Access this page

First page of

current topic Last page of

current topic

Previous page Next page

Page 8

Thus, in addition to the navigation controls within the document itself which are described above, a pdf reader

(Acrobat for example) provides quick access to various display options and navigation controls. A few of them are

pointed out for the Acrobat Reader below. Please use the Help option for your reader for a more comprehensive

description of its options.

The “Go back/forward” buttons are particularly useful – they operate somewhat like the “Back” and “Forward” buttons

on standard Web browsers. If your previously viewed page was in a different document, the pdf reader will

automatically reload the appropriate file and jump to the correct page. Note that most pdf readers also consider a

change of view (e.g. scrolling) or magnification as an event to remember in the back/forward list.

Grab and move page

Click and zoom in

(Ctl-click to zoom out)

Standard page

navigation

Standard page

magnification controls

Go back to last

viewed page

Go forward to previously

viewed page

Select Tool

Print For additional help

Each How To topic provides a set of bookmarks that match the standard

section titles. You can quickly navigate to one of these sections by using

the bookmark list in pdf reader.

Page 9

PRINTING

Printing Topics From The PDF Reader

You can easily print any topic in the How To manual or pages from the other documentation from within the pdf

reader. The documents will produce decent hardcopy printouts. To print a topic:

1. Navigate to the topic you want to print.

2. Choose Print... from the File menu (or hit the printer icon).

3. Be sure the Printer Command setting is correct for your environment and then click OK. Your document should

print to the selected (or default) printer. If you do not have a printer available on your network or you wish to save

the PostScript file to disk, you can do so: click the File button, enter a filename, and click OK.

Printing EnSight Manuals

You can print (all or portions of) the EnSight manuals from provided .pdf files. These files have been print optimized

and should produce reasonably high quality hardcopy. They have all been formatted for letter size paper. These files

are located in the doc/Manuals directory of the EnSight installation.

$CEI_HOME/ensight92/doc/Manuals/Installation.pdf

$CEI_HOME/ensight92/doc/Manuals/GettingStarted.pdf

$CEI_HOME/ensight92/doc/Manuals/HowTo.pdf

$CEI_HOME/ensight92/doc/Manuals/UserManual.pdf

$CEI_HOME/ensight92/doc/Manuals/CLmanual.pdf

$CEI_HOME/ensight92/doc/Manuals/InterfaceManual.pdf

You can open these manuals in the pdf reader and print any or all pages, or send them to an outside source for

printing.

Page 10

EnSight Overview

ENSIGHT OVERVIEW

EnSight is a powerful software package for the postprocessing, visualization, and animation of complex datasets.

Although EnSight is designed primarily for use with the results of computational analyses, it can also be used for

other types of data. Please note that EnSight CFD is a separate product.

This document provides a very brief overview of EnSight. Consult Chapter 1 in the User Manual for additional

overview information. This article is divided into the following sections:

Graphical User Interface

Client / Server Architecture

EnSight’s Parts Concept

Online Documentation

Graphical User Interface

The graphical user interface (GUI) of EnSight contains the following major components:

Chapter 5 in the User Manual provides additional overview information on the user interface.

Main Menu

Feature Icon Bar

Sets the current feature. Click an

icon to open the associated Quick

Interaction area.

Main Parts List

All parts from your model as well as

created parts (e.g. clips, isosurfaces)

are listed here. Click an item to

select part(s) to operate on.

Mode Selection Area

Sets the major mode of EnSight (Part,

Annot, Plot, VPort, ...) and loads the

applicable set of icons into the

vertical Mode Icon Bar. Click the

button to select the Mode.

Mode Icon Bar

The set of icons associated with the

current Mode. Click the icon to

access the function. If Tool Tips are

on (bottom right of desktop), the

icon’s function name will be shown

when mouse is over the icon. If

necessary, use the vertical scroll bar

to access the remainder of the icons.

Transformation Control Area

Buttons that control the current

transformation operation (e.g. rotate

or translate) associated with mouse

action in the Graphics Window. Other

buttons open dialogs providing

detailed transformation control.

Information Area Button

Click to see information dialog.

Message Area

Quick Interaction Area

Interface controls associated with the current

feature selected from the Feature Icon Bar.

Graphics Window showing inset plot and viewport

Note: This whole upper level of the GUI

is referred to as the “Desktop”

Page 11

Client / Server Architecture

To facilitate the handling of large datasets and efficiently use networked resources, EnSight was designed to

distribute the postprocessing workload. Data I/O and all compute intensive functions are performed by a server

process. The server transmits 3D geometry (and other information) to a client running on a graphics workstation.

The client handles all user interface interaction and graphic rendering using the workstation’s built-in graphics

hardware.

The client and server each run as separate processes on one or more computers. When distributed between a

compute server and a graphics workstation, EnSight leverages the strengths of both machines. When both tasks

reside on the same machine, a stand-alone capability is achieved. The client–server architecture allows EnSight to

be used effectively, even on systems widely separated geographically.

Before EnSight can be used, the client and server must be connected. For standalone operation, you simply run the

“ensight8” script and the client and server are started and connected for you. For distributed operation (as well as for

standalone operation when more control is desired), there are two methods of achieving a connection: a manual

connection (described in the Getting Started manual) or an automatic connection (described in How To Connect

EnSight Client and Server).

EnSight’s cases feature allows you to postprocess multiple datasets simultaneously. Cases is implemented by

having a single client connected to multiple servers running on the same or different machines.

EnSight’s Parts Concept

One of the central concepts of EnSight is that of the part. A part is a named collection of elements (or cells) and

associated nodes. The nodes and/or elements may have zero or more variables (such as pressure or stress). All

components of a part share the same set of attributes (such as color or line width).

Parts are either built during the loading process (based on your computational mesh and associated surfaces) or

created during an EnSight session. Parts created during loading are called model parts.

All other parts are created during an EnSight session and are called created or derived parts. Created parts are built

using one or more other parts as the parent parts. The created parts are said to depend on the parent parts. If one or

more of the parent parts change, all parts depending on those parent parts are automatically recalculated and

redisplayed to reflect the change. As an example, consider the following case. A clipping plane is created through

some 3D computational domain and a contour is created on the clipping plane. The contour’s parent is the clipping

plane, and the clipping plane’s parent is the 3D domain. If the 3D domain is changed (e.g. the time step changes),

the clipping plane will first be recalculated, followed by the contour. In this way, part coherence is maintained.

One of the major modes of EnSight is Part Mode. Operations in Part Mode (performed by clicking one of the icons in

the vertical Mode Icon bar) operate on the parts currently selected in the Main Parts list. See How To Select Parts

for more information.

See the Introduction to Part Creation for more information on parts.

Online Documentation

Documentation for EnSight is available online. See How To Use the Online Documentation for more information as

well as hyperlinks to the main documents. Online documentation is accessed from the Main Help menu in the user

interface. In addition, major dialog windows contain Help buttons that will open a relevant “How To” article.

Server

Client

Stand-alone Operation

host1

Requests 3D objects

Server

Client

Distributed Operation

host2

host1

Page 12

Connect EnSight Client and Server

INTRODUCTION

EnSight is a distributed application with a client that manages the user interface and graphics, and a server that reads

data and performs compute-intensive calculations. The client and server each run as separate processes on one or

more computers. Before EnSight can do anything useful, the client process must be connected to the server process.

For a simple operation on the same machine (standalone), the client and server processes will be started and

connected for you. If you desire more control over the standalone operation or want to take advantage of a

distributed operation, you have the options described below.

Necessary Prerequisites

EnSight must have been installed, the CEI_HOME and the command search path set properly. If you successfully

performed the installation as described in the Installation Guide, then these settings should be correct.

(See $CEI_HOME/ensight92/doc/Manuals/Installation.pdf if you need this manual.)

SIMPLE STANDALONE OPERATION (CONNECTION OCCURS AUTOMATICALLY)

If you want to run Ensight client and server (or SOS) on the same machine (standalone), and you have not changed

the default automatic connections to be elsewhere, you can simply do the following:

To Start Ensight:

Non Windows:

At the prompt In a shell window, type:

ensight92

Windows:

To Start Ensight in SOS mode: (reminder that you need a gold license key for this)

Non Windows:

At the prompt in a shell window, type:

ensight92 -sos

Windows:

Note: To add another dataset or replace the existing dataset (which EnSight refers to as another case), see Adding Another Case

below

Either double click the EnSight 9.2

icon on the desktop,

Start > CEI > EnSight 9.2

EnSight92

Start > CEI > EnSight 9.2 SOS

Page 13

CONNECTING AUTOMATICALLY

Automatic connections are made according to the “default” connection settings that have been stored (and are

visible) in the Job Launch Settings Dialog. The connection that occurs on startup will be according to the settings

saved in this dialog (and its associated file). Thus, it is important that you know how to get to this dialog.

The Job Launch Settings dialog is accessed via Case on the

main menu.

For each connection, fields are provided for

the needed information.

The default connection is indicated with a True

value for ‘Default configuration’. If EnSight is

started with a connection to an existing

Configuration then it uses those settings. For

example,

ensight92 -c remote_conn

will start up with the indicated options. If the

Configuration is not found, then EnSight will

start up with your default settings but then use

the host name as given by the ‘-c’ command

line option.

When you make changes to any of the fields,

the Save button is activated so you can save

these settings.

To add a new entry, click “New”, name your

entry in Configuration name, fill in your data,

toggle the Default configuration toggle if you

wish this to be your default connection setting,

and press “Save” to save your entry.

Working directory is used when the server is

first started and the browser is opened (e.g. for

case add or case replace). If the working

directory is not set, EnSight uses the

preferences directory. If that is not set, then

the current working directory will be

dependent on the platform, operating system,

and user settings.

If a numerical field has a -1 in it or if a string field is empty,

then it uses the default setting for that field. Currently, the

field Number of Nodes should be left to 1.

Page 14

CONNECTING MANUALLY

ensight92.client -cm will start a client that expects a manual connection and will prompt the user to start the

server/SOS manually, you can do something like the following:

The Server should now make the connection. To see if the connection is successful, you can click on the Information

Note: the machine you are running the client on will be referred to as CLIENT_HOST.

the machine you desire to run the server on will be referred to as SERVER_HOST

In a second window, log onto the SERVER_HOST machine using telnet (or ssh or equivalent).

The SERVER_HOST does not have to be of the same operating system as the CLIENT_HOST.

Start the ensight server on the SERVER_HOST machine, using the appropriate script and the -c option.

If the SERVER_HOST machine is

Windows: ensight92_server -c CLIENT_HOST Note the difference ( . vs _ )

Non-Windows: ensight92.server -c CLIENT_HOST

or for SOS

Windows: ensight92_sos -c CLIENT_HOST Note the difference ( . vs _ )

Non-Windows: ensight92.sos -c CLIENT_HOST

The -c CLIENT_HOST option tells the EnSight Server to connect to the EnSight Client listening on CLIENT_HOST.

Example if doing a

telnet into a

SERVER_HOST which is a

windows machine

Example if doing a telnet into a

SERVER_HOST which is a linux machine.

Example of doing a telnet from a

linux machine to a unix machine.

Example of doing a telnet

from a windows machine to

a windows machine.

Page 15

button on the Desktop. You should see “Connection accepted” in the EnSight Message Window which comes up. You

can also check the Connection Details under the Case menu. Licensing information should also appear in the

Graphics Window. If the connection failed, please consult Manual Connection Troubleshooting below and

Troubleshooting the Connection in the Installation Guide before contacting CEI support.

Manual Connection Troubleshooting

A manual connection can fail for any of several reasons. Because of the complexity of networking and customized

computing environments, we recommend that you consult your local system administrator and/or CEI support if the

following remedies fail to resolve the problem.

ADVANCED USAGE

Command Line Options

Command line options can be used to streamline many of the connection processes.Connection Details

Connection Details

You can always check the status of the current connection by accessing the Connection details dialog from the Case

Problem Probable Causes Solutions

For Unix Systems:

Unable to telnet into the

SERVER_HOST machine

Telnet service not allowed or not

running on the SERVER_HOST

machine.

Get system administration help to be able to perform this

operation. It may be that your site requires the use of ssh

or some other equivalent.

Ensight server does not start on

SERVER_HOST machine.

EnSight is not properly installed on

the SERVER_HOST

Verify the installation on the SERVER_HOST as described

in the Installation Guide. Making sure that the proper

environment variables and command path have been set.

Startup Command Description

ensight92

ensight92.client -c

Starts up client and autoconnects according to default job launch configuration settings.

ensight92 -sos

ensight92.client -c -sos

Starts up client and auto connects to sos according to default job launch configuration

settings. This requires a gold key.

ensight92.client Starts up client with no connection.

ensight92.client -c connname Starts up client and auto connects to the host specified in the job launch configuration

settings. The default settings are used if connname is not listed.

ensight92.client -c connname -sos Starts up client and auto connects the sos to the host specified in the job launch configuration

setttings.

ensight92.client -cm Starts up a client, and prompts for a manual connection.

* Note that if you are starting from a PC in a command window, change the period to an underscore: ensight92.client becomes

ensight92_client. Also if you specify a resource file to use in the start up, it takes precedence over connection settings.

Page 16

menu.

The Connection details dialog is informational; the fields

cannot be changed by the user.

Press Update to refresh the information, if this dialog has been

open while activity is occurring.

Page 17

Adding Another Case

You would add another case when you want to add an additional dataset (called a “case”) to your EnSight session.

This is often used for things like A-B comparisons or for assembling components that have been analyzed in different

solvers. You can also use the process described below to replace the current case with a new one without having to

restart EnSight.

You can add or replace cases directly from the

Case menu,

From either option, this dialog will

appear when adding a case.

Additionally, this dialog will appear first

when replacing a case.

For more information on Cases, see How To Load Multiple Datasets (Cases)

Page 18

Other Auto connection requirements

The auto-connect mechanism requires that certain conditions exist in your computing environment for auto

connections to work when running the EnSight server or SOS process on a different computer. Specifically, EnSight

depends on a correctly working 'ssh' command that doesn't require passwords. The notes below assume using the

default 'ssh' command.

Alternatively, EnSight can use a replacement command for 'ssh' as long as that replacement command follows 'ssh'

syntax or ‘rsh’ syntax

(i.e. rsh [-l username] hostname command)

Should you wish to use an alternative command for 'ssh', you may specify this command in the Job Launch

Configuration Setting dialog or on the EnSight command line with the '-rsh alternative_command_name' command

line option where 'alternative_command_name' is the replacement command. Typically, one of these mechanisms is

used in computing environments that use either 'ssh' or 'k5rsh'.

On Unix Systems:

1. You have a .cshrc file (even if you are running some other command shell such as /bin/sh) in your home

directory on the EnSight server host that contains valid settings for CEI_HOME, and that your path variable

includes the bin directory of CEI_HOME. For example, if your EnSight distribution is installed in /usr/local/

CEI and you are running EnSight on an Linux or Unix system (other architectures use a different library path

variable), your .cshrc should contain:

setenv CEI_HOME /usr/local/CEI

set path = ( $path $CEI_HOME/bin )

To verify the settings, simply try to start the server.

2. Your .cshrc file (or files sourced or executed from there) has no commands that cause output to be written (e.g.

date or pwd). Any output can interfere with EnSight server startup.

3. You can successfully execute a remote shell command from the client host system to the server host system. The

name of the remote shell command varies from system to system. While logged on to the client host system,

execute one of the following (where serverhost is the name of your server host system):

ssh serverhost date

If successful, the command should print the current date.

If any of these conditions are not met, you will be unable to establish a connection automatically and will have to use

the manual connection mechanism. Note that it is not uncommon for system administrators to disable operation of all

remote commands for security reasons. Consult your local system administrator for help or more information.

Note that if you wish to use ‘rsh’ instead of ‘ssh’, then you need to have a valid .rhosts file in your home directory

on all systems on which you wish to run the EnSight server. The file permission for this file must be such that only the

owner (you) has write permission (e.g. chmod 600 ~/.rhosts). A .rhosts file grants permission for certain

commands (e.g. rsh or rlogin) originating on a remote host to execute on the system containing the .rhosts file.

For example, the following line grants permission for remote commands from host clienthost executed by user

username to execute on the system containing the .rhosts file:

clienthost username

There should be one line like this for every client host system that you wish to be able issue remote commands from.

It is sometimes necessary to add an additional line for each client host of the form clienthost.domain.com

username (where domain.com should be changed to the full Internet domain name of the client host system). To

verify this, simply try to rsh to the remote machine.

On Windows Systems:

1. You have the EnSight server (ensight92_server) installed on the same system as your EnSight client (if you plan to

connect to the same system)

---- OR ----

2. You can successfully execute a remote shell command from the client host system to the server host system.

Page 19

Note: By default EnSight will use the ‘ssh’ command. ssh is not a default component on Windows

workstations and must be installed by the user from one of many third party sources. However, Windows

does include a rsh command which EnSight can optionally use. Note, however, only systems running

Windows Server have the RSH service and can respond by executing the EnSight server.

The name of the remote shell command varies from system to system. While logged on to the client host system,

execute one of the following (where serverhost is the name of your server host system):

ssh serverhost date

rsh serverhost date

If successful, the command should print the current date.

If condition 1. or 2. is not met, you will be unable to establish a connection automatically and will have to use the

manual connection mechanism. Note that it is not uncommon for system administrators to disable operation of all

remote commands for security reasons. Consult your local system administrator for help or more information.

Manual connection Troubleshooting

An automatic connection can fail for any of several reasons. Because of the complexity of networking and customized

computing environments, we recommend that you consult your local system administrator and/or CEI support if the

following remedies fail to resolve the problem.

Problem Probable Causes Solutions

For Unix Systems:

Automatic connection fails or is

refused

Server (remote) host name is

incorrect for some reason.

Is the server host entered correctly in the Hostname

field? Try running telnet serverhost from the client

machine.

Incorrect or missing .rhosts file

in your home directory on the

server host.

Follow the instructions on .rhosts files (as described in

the Basic Operation section, step 1 above). If you cannot

successfully execute a remote command (such rlogin

or rsh) from the client host to the server host, you will not

be able to connect automatically.

The user account (i.e. login name)

on the client host does not exist on

the server host.

Enter your login name on the server host in the Login

name field.

The server executable is not found

on the server system

Is the entry in the Executable [path/]name field correct? If

the server executable is NOT in your default command

search path on the server, you must include the full path

name to the executable. For example, /usr/local/

CEI/ensight92/bin/ensight92.server.

Your .cshrc does not contain a

valid setting for CEI_HOME.

Add the appropriate line as described in the Basic

Operation section, step 2 above.

Your .cshrc file (or files executed

by it) causes output to be written.

This is interpreted as a server

startup error.

Remove the offending commands from your .cshrc file.

As a test, do the following:

% cd

% mv .cshrc .cshrc-SAVE

Create a new .cshrc file that contains only the lines to set

CEI_HOME and path as described in the Basic

Operation section, step 2 above. If that test works, you

will need to examine your .cshrc to find and remove the

offending lines.

For Windows Systems:

Automatic connection fails or is

refused (trying to connect to

same host system)

Server not installed or not

executable.

You should be able to locate the server executable

(ensight92_server) using Windows Explorer. Double click

on it and see if a console window opens with “This is

EnSight Server 9.2” etc. If this doesn’t happen, refer to

“Troubleshooting the Installation” in the Getting Started

Manual.

Page 20

Other Notes

Connection Name - Hostname flexibility

When you specify '-c name' on the command line, EnSight will match the specified 'name' to a Job Launch

Configuration name. If a match is found, then the Configuration’s Hostname (not Configuration name) is used as the

computer name for the EnSight Server or EnSight SOS. Should a match not be found, then EnSight will use all the

settings for the default Configuration but substitute the name specified by '-c name' for the hostname.

The Job Launch Configuration Setting dialog lists entries by a 'Configuration name' which can be different than the

'Hostname'. The Hostname must be a properly routable intranet/Internet hostname and/or TCP/IP address. A

Configuration name can be any name that doesn't include spaces or special characters. The configuration name and

hostname can be identical.

Network ports used by EnSight and SLiM

Client/Server Mode

The EnSight client connects to the slimd8 license manager via TCP port 7790 typically. This actual port used is

defined in $CEI_HOME/license8/slim8.key and appears on the 'slimd' line as the number after 'slimd'.

The client listens for connections from the EnSight server on TCP port 1106. It also communicates with the

collaborative hub on TCP port 1107. If the client is listening for external commands, it will use TCP port 1104.

If port 1106 is used by another process, EnSight will give you an error "Address already in use", and there are two

possible solutions:

1: use another port with command line option "-ports ####" for both client and server (inconvenient)

2: kill (or have root kill) the process that has the port locked.

For example, determine the process:

/sbin/fuser 1106/tcp

the result comes back....

1106/tcp: 314159o

in this case you(or root, if necessary) would kill it...

kill -9 314159

Note that the specific commands to use will vary depending on operating system.

Server of Server Mode

When running in Server of Server mode (SOS), the SOS is threaded and will start up server processes in parallel

(subject to CPU availability and license restrictions) using ports 1110 through 1117. To limit the number of threads,

set the environmental variable ENSIGHT9_MAX_SOSTHREADS to the maximum number of threads (max is 8).

Path to the server is incorrect If using the EnSight Connect dialog, check that the

correct path is specified in the “Executable” field.

If running from the ensight92 command, first ensure that

your PATH environment variable contains the paths for

the ensight92 “client” and “server” directories. You can

check and correct the value of PATH in the Start

>Settings >ControlPanel >System_Environment dialog.

Incorrect hostname entered in the

“Hostname” field of the Connection

settings dialog.

Make sure that the hostname is correct, including the

case of all letters. The ONLY way to confidently see the

hostname (in the correct case) from Windows is to open

a Command Prompt window and type:

> ipconfig /all

The Host Name will be one of the first things listed.

Automatic connection fails or is

refused (trying to connect to a

remote server)

Same causes as for a Unix system See “For Unix Systems” portion of this table above.

Problem Probable Causes Solutions

Page 21

Distributed Renderer - used by parallel compositor

Ports 8739 to 8789 must be available to EnSight for its own internal TCP/IP connections when running the parallel

compositor in EnSight DR.

SEE ALSO

Chapter 2 of the Getting Started Manual

How To Load Multiple Datasets (Cases)

Page 22

Command Line Start-up Options

INTRODUCTION

There are a number of options that can be included on the command line when starting EnSight. The following tables

indicate the commands that can be issued for the EnSight script (ensight92), the EnSight client (ensight92.client), the

EnSight server (ensight92.server), or the EnSight server-of-servers (ensight92.sos). To see the most current listing

for any of these, issue one or more of the following:

Linux/Unix/Mac Windows

ensight92 -help

ensight92.client -help ensight92_client -help

ensight92.server -help ensight92_server -help

ensight92.sos -help ensight92_sos -help

BASIC USAGE

ensight92 [options]

ensight92.client [options]

Section 1. EnSight Startup/Client-Server Options

-ar <f> Restore from specified archive file “f”

-c [<host>[:<exe>]] Do an auto connection, with optional “host” machine and executable. If only -c is used, the

auto connection will be according to the values set in your ensight_conn_settings file (which is

created in your EnSight Defaults directory (located at

%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%\(username)\.ensight92 commonly located at

C:\Users\username\ on Vista and Win7, C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\ on older

Windows, ~/.ensight92 on Linux, and in ~/Library/Application Support/EnSight92 on the Mac) if

you connect via the Connect dialog). EnSight server will run on “host” if you include it after

the -c. And you can also optionally specify the server executable to run on said “host”.

-case <f> Read EnSight casefile name ”f” and display part loader

-cierr Connect auto and ignore errors

-cip Send client’s IP address to the server for auto connect. The IP address will be used

instead of the internet hostname. This can be useful for clients which use dynamic IP

address assignment (i.e. dhcp). (However, it may not send the correct address if the

client computer has multiple network interfaces (e.g. WiFi and wired ethernet).)

-cm Do a manual connection of server

-collab_port <#> Specify the port for collaboration socket communication.

-ctx <f> Applies context file “f” as soon as connection is made

-custom Force the license manager to look for a custom token

-cwd <p> Sets the client working directory to the path specified by ‘p’

-d #

-display #

Command line display?

-delay_refresh Graphics window is not updated during command file playback, until finished

-extcfd Extended CFD variables automatically placed in variable list

-externalcmdport Specify the port on which to receive external commands. See -externalcmds.

-externalcmds Has EnSight start listening for a connection on port 1104 (or the port specified with the

-externalcmdport) for an external command stream. Once connected, all commands

must then come from the external source - as the GUI commands will be ignored.

-gold Force the license manager to look for a gold token

-hide_console (Windows only) hides console on startup

-homecwd (Windows only) Sets the client working directory to HOME

-lite Start EnSight in Lite mode

-localhostname <host> Host name to force server(s) to use to connect to client

-no_delay_refresh Graphics window is updated during command file playback, until finished

-p <f> Plays playfile “f” as soon as connection is made

Page 23

-part_loader If a file is specified on the command line, this command will bring up the part loader to

allow for part selection. If a file is specified on the command line without this command,

all parts will be loaded.

-ports # Allows user specification of socket communication port. (passed on to server or sos)

-prdist # Specify a parallel rendering distribution config file.

-pyargv . . . [-endpyargv] Anything on the command line between these two options will appear as ‘sys.argv’ in

Python. sys.argv[0] = “ensight” except if a python startup file is specified via -qtguipy, in

which case, that filename becomes sys.argv[0]. Note, -pyargv will swallow arguments

up to the end of the argument list or -endpyargv, whichever comes first.

-rsh <cmd> Remote shell program to use for automatic connection. (passed on to server or sos)

-security [#] Forces a handshake between the client and server using the # provided or a random

number

-sos Set up to connect to the Server-of-Servers (ensight92.sos) instead of normal server.

-soshostname <host> Host name to force server(s) to use to connect to Server-of-Servers

-standard Force the license manager to look for a standard token

-timeout <#> Number of seconds to wait for server connection; default = 60, infinite = -1

-token_try_again <#> If can’t obtain a license token, try again in # minutes. where # is a float value. If neither

-token_wait_for nor -token_wait_until is specified, will try for 1 hour.

-token_wait_for # If can’t obtain a license token, try again for # minutes, where # is a float value.

If -token_try_again is not specified, sets -token_try_again to 10.

Supersedes -token_wait_until.

-token_wait_until # If can’t obtain a license token, try again until the time is hour:minute. If -token_try_again

is not specified, sets -token_try_again to 10.

-v # Output verbosity 0 to 10

-version Prints out EnSight’s version number. (Does not start EnSight)

Section 2. EnSight Client GUI Options

-E<extension_name> Call a method on a registered user-defined extension (see EnSight extension

mechanism and How to Produce Customized Access to Tools & Features) using

the name of the extension. There must be no space between the -E and the extension

name and the option can be used repeatedly in the same command line (the order of

execution matches the order on the command line). These calls are made just prior to

playing command files or python files after EnSight starts up. By default, the method

‘cmdLine()’ is invoked, but options exist to specify the method as well as parameters to

the method. The whole option may need to be enclosed in quotes if some of these latter

features are used.

For example, suppose you have a registered extension named ‘foo’. The following

usages are permitted.

‘-Efoo’ will call foo.cmdLine().

‘-Efoo.run()’ will call foo.run(), a specific object method.

‘-Efoo=10.0’ will call foo.cmdLine(10.0), the default method with a parameter.

‘-Efoo.bar(10.0,”hello”)’ will call foo.bar(10.0, “hello”), a specific object method with

multiple parameters.

-iconlblf <#> Mode panel icon label font size

-ignorexerr Ignore X window errors

-jumboicons Adds support for high resolution displays such as IBM Big Bertha (linux/unix) (see -mag)

-largeicons Uses larger feature icons in EnSight (non-Windows only)

-mag # Magnification factor of menus, titlebars, icons using a float number that is greater than

1.0 on high resolution displays or power wall (Windows only).

-menuf # Menu font size (4 to 50)

-ni Will use text in place of icons

-sc <c> Section Label color name “c” string < 24 chars long

-smallscreen Sets window attributes based on the screen size of 1024x768 (non-Windows only)

-smallicons Uses smaller feature icons in EnSight (default)

Section 3. EnSight Server Specific Options

Page 24

-buffer_size <#> Set element buffer size for Unstructured Auto Distribute (passed from client down)

-gdbg Print some debugging info for EnSight format geometries (passed from client to server)

-iwd Ignore the working directory in the ensight.connect.default file

-maxoff Turns off maxsize checking (passed from client to server)

-no_ghosts Don’t produce ghosts in Unstructured Auto Distribute (passed from client down)

-no_metric Don’t print metric for Unstructured Auto Distribute (passed from client down)

-readerdbg Prints user-defined-reader library loading information in shell window upon startup of

server (passed from client to server)

-scaleg <#> Provide scale factor to scale geometry by (passed from client to server)

-scalev <#> Provide scale factor to scale all vectors by (passed from client to server)

-swd <dir> Set the server working directory

-time Prints out timing information (passed from client to server)

-writerdbg Prints user-defined-writer library loading information in shell window upon startup of

server (passed from client to server)

Section 4. Miscellaneous Options

-h, -help, -Z Prints the usage list

-inputdbg Prints user-defined input device information

-nb No automatic backup recording

-no_file_locking Turns off file locking (lock()). Some systems don’t support this properly

-no_prefs Do not load saved user preferences (uses all original defaults)

-pal_tex Use 1D textures for color palettes.

-pal_rgb Use rgb colors for color palettes

-range10 Use palette ranges which are 10% in from the extremes

-silent Causes all stdout and stderr messages to be thrown away

-slimtimeout # Allow slimd token to expire if idle.

-stderr <f> Cause all stderr messages to be written to the file.

-stdout <f> Causes all stdout messages to be written to the file.

Section 5. Rendering Options

-batch <width>< height> Batch mode with optional width and height.

-bbox Render only bounding boxes in the GUI window (useful for detached displays with

-prsd2 option). (See How To Setup For Parallel Rendering)

-box_resolution <#> Resolution of bounding boxes for part culling (max 9). Implies -no_display_list

-ctarget <#> Set the number of chunks per server for parallel rendering (passed from client to

server(s)).

-dconfig Specify a display configuration file

-display_list Use OpenGL display lists

-frustrum_cull Use frustrum culling where possible

-glconfig Prints current OpenGL configuration parameter defaults to screen

-glsw Forces use of software implementation of OpenGL, bypassing the hardware graphics

card (same as -X)

-gl Sets line drawing mode to draw polygons

-ogl Sets line drawing mode to draw lines

-no_display_list Force EnSight to use immediate mode graphics

-no_frustrum_cull Do not use frustrum culling

-norm_per_vert Use one normal per vertex for flat-shading

-norm_per_poly Use one normal per polygon for flat-shading

-multi_sampling Turns MultiSampling on

-multi_sampling_sw Use software MultiSampling

-no_multi_sampling Do not use MultiSampling

-no_start_screen Ignore the start screen image (Good for HP using TGS OpenGL)

-num_samples <#> Specify number of samples for software multi-sampling

-num_samples_st <#> Specify number of samples for hardware stereo multi-sampling

-occlusion_test Use the HP occlusion extension if available

Page 25

Client Examples:

ensight92 -cm -p myplayfile

This will allow the user to do a manual connection, after which the “myplayfile” will be run.

ensight92 -c -gold -ports 1310 -case myfile.case

This will do an automatic connection (according to information in the user’s ensight.connect.default file) on port 1310,

using a gold seat. After the connection is made, the “myfile.case” casefile will be run.

ensight92 -rsh ssh -hc yellow (or ensight92.client -c -rsh ssh -hc yellow)

This will use ssh as the remote shell for an automatic connection, and will set the highlight color to yellow (instead of

the default color of green).

-no_occlusion_test Do not use the HP occlusion extension

-stencil_buff Use the OpenGL stencil buffer (even if not enabled by default)

-no_stencil_buff Assumes there is not a working stencil buffer (some Windows video cards)

-double_buffer Use double-buffering for the graphics window (default)

-single_buffer Do not use double-buffering

-sort_first Sets the default parallel rendering sorting method to be the sort first method

-sort_last Sets the default parallel rendering sorting method to be the sort last method

-unmapdd Don’t map the detached display on startup

-vcount <#> Specifies the maximum number of vertices between begin/end pairs in a OpenGL

display list object. This option is useful for certain graphics cards (most modern Nvidia

based) when dealing with large display objects - it will usually impact the performance of

creating the display list objects. Every graphics card/driver will be optimal at a different

vcount value so testing is necessary to achieve maximum performance.

-X Starts the X version of EnSight (uses Mesa OpenGL instead of native OpenGL,

bypassing the hardware graphics card. This is the same as -glsw)

Section 6. X Window Specific Options

-bg <color> Background “color” colorname, such as “white”

-fg <color> Foreground “color” colorname, such as “black”

-fn <fn> (UNIX only) Motif GUI font where “fn” is the XLFD font name

-font <fn> Same as -fn

-hc <color> User Interface Current Selection Highlight “color” colorname, such as “yellow”.

Section 7. Resource Options

-chres <f> Collab hub resource filename

-res <f> Resource filename

-sosres<f> SOS resource filename

-use_lsf_for_renderers Evaluate environmental variable LSB_MCPU_HOSTS for renderer resources

(See Client Resources in How To Use Resource Management)

-use_lsf_for_servers Evaluate environmental variable LSB_MCPU_HOSTS for server resources

(See Client Resources in How To Use Resource Management)

-use_pbs_for_renderers Evaluate environmental variable PBS_NODEFILE for renderer resources

(See Client Resources in How To Use Resource Management)

-use_pbs_for_servers Evaluate environmental variable PBS_NODEFILE for server resources

(See Client Resources in How To Use Resource Management)

Section 8. Distributed Rendering (DR) Specific Options

-cr Chromium mode

-offscreen Batch offscreen rendering

-onscreen Batch onscreen rendering

-pc Compositing mode

-pr_out <f> File name for parallel rendering worker output

Page 26

Server Examples (when started manually):

ensight92.server -c clientmachine -readerdbg

Specifies “clientmachine” as the machine on which the client is running, and that information on user-defined-reader

library loading should be printed out.

ensight92.server -ports 1310 -scaleg 10.0 -scalev 10.0

Specifies that communication is to occur on port 1310, and that the geometry and all vectors are to be scaled by a

factor of 10.

ensight92.server [options]

-buffer_size <#> Set element buffer size for Unstructured Auto Distribute

-c <host> “host” indicates where the client is running

-ctarget <#> Set the number of chunks per server for parallel rendering.

-ctries <#> The number of times (1 second per try) to try to connect client and server.

-ether Ethernet device name such as ln0

-gdbg Print some debugging info for EnSight format geometries

-h, -help Prints the usage list

-maxoff Turns off maxsize checking

-no_ghosts Don’t produce ghosts in Unstructured Auto Distribute

-no_metric Don’t print metric for Unstructured Auto Distribute

-pipe Forces the server to use a named pipe connection (must be on same machine)

-ports <#> Allows user specification of socket communication port.

-readerdbg Prints user-defined-reader lib loading information in shell window upon startup of server

-scaleg <#> Provide scale factor to scale geometry by

-scalev <#> Provide scale factor to scale all vectors by

-security <#> Provide number for client to server security check or else random token is generated

-sock Forces the server to use a socket connection

-soshostname <host> Allows different name for servers to connect back to Server-of-Servers with

-time Prints out timing information

-writerdbg Prints user-defined-reader lib loading information in shell window upon startup of server

ensight92.sos [options]

-buffer_size <#> Set element buffer size for Unstructured Auto Distribute (passes on to servers)

-c <host> “host” indicates where the client is running

-cports Allows specification of socket communication port to the client.

SEE ALSO

How To Use ens_checker

User Manual:

Reader Basics

EnSight Case Reader

EnSight5 Reader

SEE ALSO

User Manual:

EnSight Gold Casefile Format

EnSight6 Casefile Format

Page 52

Load Multiple Datasets (Cases)

INTRODUCTION

Normal operation of EnSight involves one client process (the graphics and GUI) interfacing with one server process

(data I/O and computation) to postprocess your data. There however several other configurations possible. One of

these is the ability to connect a single client to multiple servers at the same time, with each server maintaining a

unique dataset. Each of these servers can potentially run on different machines.

The main use of this capability is to visualize multiple datasets simultaneously. Each dataset is loaded into a separate

case and can be viewed in the same window or in separate viewports. You can perform before and after comparisons

of the same problem or compare experimental with simulated results. The same operation (such as a clip or a particle

trace) can be performed in both cases simultaneously. Created parts always belong to the same case as the parent

from which the part was created. As a consequence, you cannot perform operations that combine parts (such as a

merge) from multiple cases.

When EnSight reads a new case, it searches the current list of variables for matches with the variables from the new

case. If it finds a match (based on an exact match of the variable name), it will not enter the new variable in the list.

Rather, the matched name will be used for both. This behavior is based on the assumption that the identical variable

names represent the same physical entity and should therefore be treated the same. If the new variable name does

not match any existing name, the new variable is added to the list as usual.

Up to 16 cases can be active at one time. You can add a new case or replace an existing case to a running session

by using the File->Open... process (if you want to load all parts and don’t need to control other options available when

loading cases) or the File->Data (reader)... process (which provides greater control). Adding a case starts a new

server process, connects it to the client, and either loads all the parts (if you used Open...) or allows you to specify the

data format and files as well as which parts to load into the new server and what optional settings to use as the case

is created. One of the helpful uses of the replace case option is to load a new dataset into EnSight without re-starting

the client. You can of course also delete cases you no longer need.

Server

Client

Server

Client

Server

Normal Operation Two Cases

Page 53

BASIC OPERATION

Simplified case operations (Add or Replace and load all parts) can be accessed through the File->Open dialog. All

other case operations (including control of various options can be accessed through the Case menu or through the

File->Data (reader) dialog. Both methods will be shown below.

Add a Case

To add a case to a running EnSight session

Using simple File->Open dialog

method:

1.Select File->Open... to open

the File Selection dialog.

2. Select Keep currently loaded

data

This will add, rather than

replace, the case

3. Select the desired directory

and files for the new case.

4. Click Okay.

The EnSight client will now start the connection process for the new server. If your original connection was

automatic, the new server will be started automatically. If your original connection was manual, you will have to

manually start another server. You can follow the progress of the connection in the Message area. See the

EnSight Getting Started Manual or How To Connect EnSight Client and Server for more information. Once

connected, EnSight will also load all parts of this new case if you use this method.

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Using File->Data (reader) dialog method:

1. Select Case > Add, Replace, Delete... to open the data reader File Selection dialog.

2. If the Case section is not

open, click the turndown.

3. Click Add...

4. If desired, enter a name for the

case (other than the default).

The name will be displayed in the

Case menu so this case can be

selected as the current case.

5. Set optional settings.

Create new viewport for this case will

place the new case in a new viewport.

Apply Context From Case 1 will cause

the new case to inherit positioning etc.

from case 1.

Reflect Model About Axis allows the

model to be reflected as it is read in.

Pick the axis and specify the origin

location.

6. Click Okay.

The EnSight client will now start the connection process for the new server. If your original

connection was automatic, the new server will be started automatically. If your original connection

was manual, you will have to manually start another server. You can follow the progress of the

connection in the Message area. See the EnSight Getting Started Manual or How To Connect

EnSight Client and Server for more information.

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Replace a Case

You can replace an existing case. This is most useful when you wish to load a new dataset without having to stop

and re-start the client. To replace a case:

Using simple File->Open dialog method:

Do the same thing you do for adding a case, but select the Replace currently loaded data toggle.

Using File->Data (reader) dialog method

1. Select the case you wish to replace in the Case menu (Case > casename).

2. Select Case > Add, Replace, Delete... to open the data reader File Selection dialog.

3. If the Case section is not open, click the turndown.

4. Click Replace...

You will be asked to confirm the replacement. If confirmed, the server associated with the selected case is terminated

and the EnSight client will now start the connection process for the new server. If your original connection was

automatic, the new server will be started automatically. If your original connection was manual, you will have to

manually start another server. You can follow the progress of the connection in the Message area. See How To

Connect EnSight Client and Server for more information.

Delete a Case

To delete a case:

1. Select the case you wish to delete in the Case menu (Case > casename).

2. Select Case > Add, Replace, Delete... to open the data reader File Selection dialog.

3. If the Case section is not open, click the turndown.

4. Click Delete...

You will be asked to confirm the deletion. If confirmed, the server associated with the selected case is terminated.

Displaying Parts by Case

By default all parts from all cases are displayed in the Main Parts list and they are displayed in a hierarchical manner

by case. There are several different ways to show or not show things in the list. These are controlled by the Sort...

button under the list. See How To... Introduction to Part Creation for more details on viewing the parts list.

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Case Viewport Display

One of the chief advantages of the case feature is the ability to perform side-by-side comparisons of different

datasets. One way to do this is to display each case in a separate viewport. To do this:

ADVANCED USAGE

EnSight’s cases capability has also been used to achieve coarse-grained parallelism for very large datasets by

partitioning a mesh into blocks and reading each block into a different case. Each case can run on different machines

or on different CPUs of a multiprocessor host. Since the EnSight client places the geometry from the different cases

in the same coordinate system, the blocks are effectively “stitched” back together for viewing. Operations such as

clipping and isosurface calculation are then automatically performed in parallel. However, since there is no

communication between the servers (in the current release) you cannot trace particles originating in one block and

expect them to cross a block boundary into a different block. (It should be noted that EnSight’s server-of-server

capability is an alternate, and usually better way to do parallel operations on a model.)

OTHER NOTES

When you perform an archive operation, a binary dump file is produced for each active server (case). The archive

information file contains details about the cases and can be used to restart the EnSight client as well as all servers

active when the archive was performed. See How To Save and Restore an Archive for more information.

SEE ALSO

User Manual: Case Menu Functions

1. Create as many additional viewports as you need to

display your cases. See How To Define and Change

Viewports for more information.

2. Select the case whose parts you wish to display only in

certain viewports in the Case menu (Case > casename).

3. Select Case > Viewport Visibility...

4. Click in the desired viewport to enable or disable

display of the selected case. Black means the selected

case is not displayed in the viewport, green means that

it is displayed.

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Load Transient Data

INTRODUCTION

From it’s inception, EnSight has been used extensively to postprocess time-varying or transient data. In many cases,

dynamic phenomena can only be understood through interactive exploration as a transient case is animated.

EnSight handles all types of transient data. All variables as well as mesh coordinates and connectivity can vary over

time. The rate at which variables (or the mesh) change can differ (supported through the EnSight Gold and EnSight6

Case data format only).

EnSight can postprocess transient data in many ways. The Solution Time Quick Interaction area lets you easily set

the current time step, step through time (manually or automatically), or restrict the range of time to a region of

interest. You can perform query operations to extract information over time. You can use the flipbook capability to

create an on-screen animation of your data changing over time and continue to interact with it during animation

playback. EnSight’s keyframe animation capability can be used to create high-quality video animations of transient

data.

This article covers reading transient data into EnSight.

BASIC OPERATION

Reading transient data into EnSight is essentially the same as reading static data (see How To Read Data for more

information). By default, the last time step will become the current time step. This behavior is based on the

assumption that the last step will contain the largest dynamic range of the variable data so that variable palettes will

be initialized properly. However, you can override this by clicking the Specify Starting Time Step toggle and entering

the desired time step in the data reader File Selection dialog (File > Data (Reader)...).

For most data formats, the “results” file supplies the necessary time information, including number of steps, actual

solution time at each step, and how to access the dynamic variable and geometry files. However, some formats

supported by EnSight include this information in the same file that contains other geometry or variable data. The

following table lists how transient data is specified for each format type. And for the latest and most detailed

information, please look at the README file in the reader folder under $CEI_HOME/ensight92/src/readers.

Format Type What File Contains Time Info? Notes

Case EnSight 6 file.case Standard EnSight case file

EnSight Gold file.case Standard EnSight case file

EnSight 5 file.res Standard EnSight results file

ABAQUS file.fil

ABAQUS_ODB file.odb

ANSYS RESULTS file.rst, file.rth, etc.

Ansys Results (v8) file.rst, file.rth, etc.

AVUS Does not handle transient data directly

AVUS Case file.txt AVUS text case file

CFF file

CFX-4 file.dmp

CGNS file.cgns

ESTET Does not handle transient data

ExodusIIgold file.exo

FAST UNSTRUCTURED file.res. Can handle transient geometry

as well as solution and function files.

Special FAST format results file. See FAST

UNSTRUCTURED Results File Format

FIDAP NEUTRAL file.fdneut All time steps must be contained in the same neutral

file (i.e. there is only one file, not one for every time

step).

Fluent file.cas, file.dat

FLUENT UNIVERSAL file.unv Special FLUENT format results file. See FLUENT

UNIVERSAL Results File Format

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SEE ALSO

How To Change Time Steps, How To Animate Transient Data, How To Query/Plot

User Manual: Flipbook Animation, Query/Plot

Special HDF5 file (each file contains one time value) Special casefile containing number of files and the list

of files to use.

LS-DYNA3D file.d3plot Can be all in one file or in a family of d3plot files.

Medina bif/bof file.konfig

Movie file.res Standard EnSight results file

MPGS 4.1 file.res Standard EnSight results file

MSC/Dytran file.arc files Remember file.dat can be used to assemble multiple

“parts” from multiple file.arc files.

Nastran OP2 file.op2

N3S file.res N3S results file

NetCDF file.ncase

PLOT3D file.res. Can handle transient geometry

as well as solution and function files.

Special PLOT3D format results file. See PLOT3D

Results File Format.

RADIOSS_4.x file.anim

SCRYU file.pre

Silo file.silo or file.case Multiple times can be in the file.silo file, or the

file.case file can contain reference to multiple files

and their times.

STL Does not handle transient data

TECPLOT 7.x file.plt

Tecplot_ASCII file.dat for single file transient

or file*.dat (file1.dat, file2.dat, etc.)

For a single file transient solution, use

SOLUTIONTIME=# keyword after each ZONE T

keyword where # is a number representing the time

and check the Single File Transient Toggle in the

Format Options Tab of the data reader.

For multiple files, use file*.dat where the * represents

the file number of the timestep.

Vectis

Other User Defined varies with each reader See How to Read User Defined

Format Type What File Contains Time Info? Notes

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Use Server of Servers

INTRODUCTION

ensight92 (with gold license key) has the capability of dealing with partitioned data in an efficient distributed manner

by utilizing what we call a server-of-servers (SOS for short). An SOS server resides between a normal client and a

number of normal servers. Thus, it appears as a normal server to the client, and as a normal client to the various

normal servers.

This arrangement allows for distributed parallel processing of the various portions of a model, and has been shown to

scale quite well.

Currently, EnSight SOS capability is only available for EnSight5, EnSight6, EnSight Gold, Plot3d, and any EnSight

User-Defined Reader data. (It is not directly available for Fidap Neutral, Fluent Universal, N3S, Estet, MPGS4,

Movie, Ansys, Abaqus, or FAST Unstructured data.)

Please recognize that your data must be partitioned in some manner (hopefully in a way that will be reasonably load

balanced) in order for this approach to be useful. (The exception to this is the use of the auto_distribute capability for

structured or unstructured data. This option can be used if the data is available to all servers defined. It will

automatically distribute each portion of the data over the defined servers - without the user having to partition the

data. If you also use “resources”, a SOS casefile is not even needed. Please note that currently only EnSight

Gold, Plot3d, and any 2.06 (or greater) user-defined readers (which have implemented structured reader

cinching) can be used for structured auto_distribute - and that only EnSight Gold and any 2.08 (or greater)

user-defined readers (which have implemented the “*_in_buffers” routines ) can be used for unstructured

auto_distribute.)

(Included in the EnSight distribution is an unsupported utility that will take most EnSight Gold binary unstructured

datasets and partition it externally for you. The source for this utility (called “chopper”) can be found in the

$CEI_HOME/ensight92/unsupported/partitioner directory.)

Note: If you do your own partitioning of data into EnSight6 or EnSight Gold format, please be aware that each part

must be in each partition - but, any given part can be “empty” in any given partition. (All that is required for an empty

part is the “part” line, the part number, and the “description” line.)

You should place each partitioned portion of the model on the machine that will compute that portion. Each

partitioned portion is actually a self contained set of EnSight data files, which could typically be read by a normal

client - server session of EnSight. For example, if it were EnSight gold format, there will be a casefile and associated

gold geometry and variable results file(s). On the machine where the EnSight SOS will be run, you will need to place

the sos casefile. The sos casefile is a simple ascii file which informs the SOS about pertinent information needed to

run a server on each of the machines that will compute the various portions.

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The format for this file is as follows: (Note that [ ] indicates optional information, and a blank line or a line with # in the

first column are comments.)

FORMAT (Required)

type: master_server datatype (Required)

where: datatype is required and is one of the formats of EnSight’s internal readers (which

use the Part builder), namely:

gold ensight6 ensight5 plot3d

or it can be the string used to name any of the user-defined readers.

Note: For user-defined readers, the string must be exactly that which is defined in the

USERD_get_name_of_reader routine of the reader (which is what is presented in the Format

pulldown of the Data Reader dialog).

If datatype is blank, it will default to EnSight6 data type.

[auto_distribute: on/off] (Optional for structured or unstructured data)

EnSight will automatically distribute data to the servers specified below if this option is present

and set to “on”. This will require that each of the servers have access to the same data (or

identical copies of it). For structured data: use only if the datatype is gold, plot3d or a 2.06

or greater user-defined reader (which has implemented structured cinching). For

unstructured data: use only if the datatype is gold, or a 2.08 (or greater) user-defined

reader. Additionally, be aware that 2.* user-defined readers should implement the special

functions defined in README_USERD_IN_BUFFERS file if memory is to be used efficiently in

the unstructured auto-distribute process.

[use_resources: on/off] (Optional, to allow specification of server machines to come from the “resource file”)

[plot3d_iblanked: true/false](Required only if doing auto_distribute and datatype is plot3d)

[plot3d_multi_zone: true/false](Required only if doing auto_distribute and datatype is plot3d)

[plot3d_dimension: 1d/2d/3d](Required only if doing auto_distribute and datatype is plot3d)

[plot3d_source: ascii/cbin/fortranbin](Required only if doing auto_distribute and datatype is plot3d)

[plot3d_grid_double: true/false](Required only if doing auto_distribute and datatype is plot3d)

[plot3d_results_double: true/false](Required only if doing auto_distribute and datatype is plot3d)

where: iblanking, multi_zone, dimension, source type, grid file double precision, and results file

double precision information should be provided. If it is not provided, it will default to the

following (which is likely not to be correct):

plot3d_iblanked: false

plot3d_muti_zone: false

plot3d_dimension: 3d

plot3d_source: cbin

plot3d_grid_double: false

plot3d_results_double: false

[do_ghosts: on/off] (Optional for unstructured auto_distribute - default is on)

Allows user to control whether ghost cells will be produced between the distributed portions.

[buffer_size: n](Optional for unstructured auto_distribute and do_ghosts - default is 100000)

Allows user to modify the default buffer size that is used when reading node and element

information of the model when producing ghost cells.

[want_metric: on/off](Optional for unstructured auto_distribute and do_ghosts - default is on)

If set on, a simple metric will be printed in the shell window that can indicate the quality of the

auto_distribution. The unstructured auto_distribute method relies on some coherence in the

element connectivity - namely, that elements that lie next to each other are generally listed close

to each other in the data format.

The metric is simply the (#total_nodes / #nodes_needed_if_no_ghosts).

When no ghosts, the value will be 1.0. The more ghosts you must have, the higher this metric

will be. If the number gets much more than 2.0, you may want to consider partitioning yourself.

NETWORK_INTERFACES (Note: This whole section is optional. It is needed only when more than one network

interface to the sos host is available and it is desired to use them. Thus, distributing the servers

to sos communication over more than one network interface)

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number of network interfaces: num(Required - if section used)

where: num is the number of network interfaces to be used for the sos host.

network interface: sos_network_interface_name_1(Required - if section used)

network interface: sos_network_interface_name_2(Required - if section used)

network interface: sos_network_interface_name_num(Required - if section used)

SERVERS (Required)

number of servers: num [repeat](Required)

where: num is the number of servers that will be started and run concurrently.

repeat indicates that the first server specification should be repeated num times for use

with resources. Other server specifications will be ignored.

#Server 1 (Comment only)

machine id: mid (Required)

where: mid is the machine id of the server.

executable: /.../ensight92.server(Linux/Unix/Apple Required, must use full path)

or ensight92_server.bat (Windows only Required, must use .bat extension)

[directory: wd](Optional)

where: wd is the working directory from which ensight92.server will be run

[login id: id](Optional)

where: id is the login id. Only needed if it is different on this machine.

[data_path: /.../dd](Optional)

where: dd is the directory where the data resides. Full path must be provided if you use this line.

casefile: yourfile.case (Required, but depending on format, may vary as to whether it is a casefile, geometry file,

neutral file, universal file, etc. Relates to the first data field of the Data Reader Dialog.)

[resfile: yourfile.res](Depends on format as to whether required or not. Relates to the second data field of the Data

Reader Dialog.)

[measfile: yourfile.mea](Depends on format as to whether required or not. Relates to the third data field of the Data

Reader Dialog.)

[bndfile: yourfile.bnd](Depends on format as to whether required or not. Relates to the fourth data field of the Data

Reader Dialog.)

--- Repeat pertinent lines for as many servers as declared to be in this file ---

BASIC OPERATION

To use Server of Servers, you must:

1. Partition your data, and distribute it (or make it available) to the various machines on which you will run servers.

(Or if all servers have access to the data, you can use the auto_distribute option in the sos casefile.)

2. Create the sos casefile, which defines the server machines, the location of server executables on those machines,

and the name and location of the [partitioned] data for the servers.

3. Use ensight92.sos in place of ensight92.server, and provide it with the sos casefile.

Example SOS Casefile

This example deals with a EnSight Gold dataset that has been partitioned into 3 portions, each running on a different

machine. The machines are named joe, sally, and bill. The executables for all machines are located in similar

locations, but the data is not. Note that the optional data_path line is used on two of the servers, but not the third.

FORMAT

type: master_server gold

SERVERS

number of servers: 3

#Server 1

machine id: joe

executable: /usr/local/bin/ensight92/bin/ensight92.server

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data_path: /usr/people/john/data

casefile: portion_1.case

#Server 2 is a Windows machine (notice .bat extension)

machine id: sally

executable: C:\Program Files\CEI\ensight92\bin\ensight92_server.bat

data_path: D:\john\data

casefile: portion_2.case

#Server 3

machine id: bill

executable: /usr/local/bin/ensight92/bin/ensight92.server

casefile: /scratch/temp/john/portion_3.case

If we name this example sos casefile - “all.sos”, and we run it on yet another machine - one named george, you would

want the data distributed as follows:

On george: all.sos

On joe (in /usr/people/john/data): portion_1.case, and all files referenced by it.

On sally (in /scratch/sally/john/data): portion_2.case, and all files referenced by it.

On bill (in /scratch/temp/john): portion_3.case, and all file referenced by it.

By starting EnSight with the -sos command line option (which will autoconnect using ensight92.sos instead of

ensight92.server), or by manually running ensight92.sos in place of ensight92.server, and providing all.sos as the

casefile to read in the Data Reader dialog - EnSight will actually start three servers and compute the respective

portions on them in parallel.

So, one could do the following (after preparing the all.sos file):

On “george”, run the client and the sos by invoking the ensight92 script in a shell window (non-windows) or

Command Prompt window (windows), like:

george>> ensight92 -sos

Or one could run the client on the “myclient” machine, telnet (or equivalent) into the “george” machine and run the sos

there, by using the following commands:

In either case, you would enter the all.sos command as the file to read in the Data Reader dialog once EnSight is up

and connected. And the servers on “joe”, “sally”, and “bill” would be started and used automatically.

If “myclient” is a non-windows machine:

In a window on “myclient”: In a window that is telneted into the “george” machine:

myclient>> ensight92.client -cm If “george: is a non-windows machine:

george>> ensight92.sos -c myclient

If “george is a windows machine:

george>> ensight92_sos -c myclient

If “myclient” is a windows machine:

In a Command Prompt window on “myclient”: In a Command Prompt window that is telneted into the

“george” machine:

myclient>> ensight92_client -cm If “george: is a non-windows machine:

george>> ensight92.sos -c myclient

If “george is a windows machine:

george>> ensight92_sos -c myclient

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ENVIRONMENT Variables

The following Environment variables will directly affect the SOS performance, see How To Setup for Parallel

Computation.

ENSIGHT9_MAX_THREADS

ENSIGHT9_MAX_SOSTHREADS

Optional NETWORK_INTERFACES section notes

If the machine named george had more than one network interface (say it had its main one named george, but also

had one named george2), we could add the section shown below to our casefile example:

NETWORK_INTERFACES

number of network interfaces: 2

network interface: george

network interface: george2

This would cause machine joe to connect back to george, machine sally to connect back to george2, and machine bill

to connect back to george. This is because the sos will cycle through its available network interfaces as it connects

the servers. Remember that this is an optional section, and most users will probably not use it. Also, the contents of

this section will be ignored if the -soshostname command line option is used.

Example SOS Casefile for PLOT3D, Using structured auto_distribute

This example shows a plot3d dataset (post.x and post.q) that has not been partitioned, but is on an nfs mounted disk

available to each server machine. EnSight will distribute the data to the 3 servers defined. IO will not necessarily be

great since each server will be reading from the same file, but execution will be enhanced by the partitioning. We will

use the same machines used in the previous example.

FORMAT

type: master_server plot3d

auto_distribute: on

plot3d_iblanked: true

plot3d_multi_zone: false

plot3d_dimension: 3d

plot3d_source: cbin

plot3d_grid_double: false

plot3d_results_double: false

SERVERS

number of servers: 3

#Server 1

machine id: joe

executable: /usr/local/bin/ensight92/bin/ensight92.server

data_path: /scratch/data

casefile: post.x

resfile: post.q

#Server 2

machine id: sally

executable: /usr/local/bin/ensight92/bin/ensight92.server

data_path: /scratch/data

casefile: post.x

resfile: post.q

#Server 3

machine id: bill

executable: /usr/local/bin/ensight92/bin/ensight92.server

data_path: /scratch/data

casefile: post.x

resfile: post.q

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Example SOS Casefile for EnSight Gold, Using unstructured auto_distribute

This example shows an EnSight Gold dataset (trial.case) that has not been partitioned, but is on an nfs mounted disk

available to each server machine. EnSight will distribute the data to the 3 servers defined. IO will not necessarily be

great since each server will be reading from the same file, but execution will be enhanced by the partitioning. We will

use the same machines used in the previous examples.

FORMAT

type: master_server gold

auto_distribute: on

do_ghosts: on

buffer_size: 10000

want_metric: on

SERVERS

number of servers: 3

#Server 1

machine id: joe

executable: /usr/local/bin/ensight92/bin/ensight92.server

data_path: /scratch/data/gold

casefile: trial.case

#Server 2

machine id: sally

executable: /usr/local/bin/ensight92/bin/ensight92.server

data_path: /scratch/data/gold

casefile: trial.case

#Server 3

machine id: bill

executable: /usr/local/bin/ensight92/bin/ensight92.server

data_path: /scratch/data/gold

casefile: trial.case

Special Case:

If using auto_distribute (and thus each server will be accessing the same data files), and the servers will all be run on

the same machine, then one can add the word “repeat” to the end of the “number of servers: num” line and then only

define one set of Server info. For example:

FORMAT

type: master_server gold

auto_distribute: on

SERVERS

number of servers: 3 repeat

#Server 1

machine id: joe

executable: /usr/local/bin/ensight92/bin/ensight92.server

data_path: /scratch/data/gold

casefile: trial.case

Structured Auto Distribute Note:

If using structured auto_distribute, the default decomposition scheme is to do so in the i, j, or k direction that has the

largest dimension. This may not always be the best direction for a given analysis. Thus, through the use of an

environment variable, the user can set the axis to use. The chosen axis will be used unless the dimension in that

direction will not allow for all servers to contain data (namely, as long as the dimension in the chosen direction is

greater than the total number of servers used). To use the this option, set the following to 0, 1, 2, or -1:

setenv SAD_DECOMPOSE_AXIS 0 (for the i axis)

1 (for the j axis)

2 (for the k axis)

-1 (to use the default largest dimension scheme,

same as not setting the variable)

Page 65

SEE ALSO

How To Read Data

How To Read User Defined

How To Setup for Parallel Computation

How To Use Resource Managament

User Manual: Server-of-Server Casefile Format

Page 66

Load Spatially Decomposed Case Files

INTRODUCTION

If one has multiple EnSight gold casefiles (each of which contain a spatially decomposed portion of the same model),

they can be read using one or more servers (as long as the number of servers is less than or equal to the number of

casefiles). In other words, when it is desired to read N casefiles with M servers (M<=N), an additional section can be

added to the SOS casefile to accomplish this. Note that the following important restrictions/limitations will apply:

1. M (number of servers) must be less than or equal to N (number of casefiles).

2. Unstructured data only. (Note: a similar capability exists for structured data. See How to Use Block Continuation)

3. Auto distribute may not be specified in the SOS casefile.

4. None of the following can be specified in the partition casefiles:

GEOMETRY

measured:

match:

boundary:

rigid_body:

Vector_glyphs:

BLOCK_CONTINUATION

MATERIAL

Note: that some of the restrictions (such as measured) may eventually be lifted. But currently all of the above are

in effect.

5. All of the normal SOS requirements still apply.

a) All parts must be present in all cases. (Empty parts are allowed)

b) The same variables must exist in all cases.

c) The same timesets must be used in all cases.

Note: If the desired number of servers is equal to the number of casefiles, one can either use the procedure

described in this How To, or could use the normal SOS procedures (see How To Use Server of Servers).

BASIC OPERATION

To postprocess your partitioned EnSight Gold unstructured data on fewer servers than casefiles, run SOS using an

SOS casefile that has a MULTIPLE_CASEFILES section.

Three possible methods are available for your convenience . They all accomplish the same thing in slightly different

ways. So use whichever is easiest for your situation.

Note: in using one of the 3 the methods below, one should determine something about how the data resides, or is

available to EnSight. Namely, how will one need to specify the path to the data.

Since the whole idea is that the number of servers may vary, and Ensight will determine which casefiles go

to which servers, there are really only two possibilities for paths.

A) There is a global path for all of the data. And thus each server needs to know this global path (which it

will prepend to each casefile).

B) Each casefile has its own path. And each server needs to know the path for each.

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Example

Method 1

Specify the number of and the actual files in the sos casefile

A) Using global path:

MULTIPLE_CASEFILES

total number of cfiles: 3

cfiles global path: /home/bjn/data

cfiles: file1.case

file_b.case

bruce.case

B) Using path per casefile:

MULTIPLE_CASEFILES

total_number of cfiles: 3

cfiles: /home/bjn/data1/file1.case

/home/bjn/data2/file_b.case

/home/bjn/data3/bruce.case

Method 2

Specify the number of, the pattern, and the start and increment

A) Using global path:

MULTIPLE_CASEFILES

total number of cfiles: 3

cfiles global path: /home/bjn/data

cfiles pattern: file**.case

cfiles start number: 0

cfiles increment: 1

MULTIPLE_CASEFILES

total number of cfiles: 3

cfiles pattern: /home/bjn/data/file**.case

cfiles start number: 0

cfiles increment: 1

Available Section lines: Comments

MULTIPLE_CASEFILES Required for all methods

total number of cfiles: n Used for method 1 and 2

cfiles global path: global_path Optional, used for methods 1 and 2

cfiles: partition_1.case Used for method 1

partition_2.case

partition_n.case

cfiles pattern: partition_*.case Used for method 2

cfiles start number: # Used for method 2

cfiles increment: # Used for method 2

cfiles file: filename Used for method 3

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B) Using path per casefile:

Note: method 2 does not have a way to have a separate path for each casefile.

Method 3

Similar to 1., but place the info in a separate file

A) Using global path:

MULTIPLE_CASEFILES

cfiles file: all_together_cfiles.txt

and in all_together_cfiles.txt, (first line contains number of, second line contains the optional global path, then

filenames come 1 per line on the following lines). Like:

/home/bjn/data

file1.case

file_b.case

bruce.case

B) Using path per casefile:

MULTIPLE_CASEFILES

cfiles file: separated_cfiles.txt

and in separated_cfiles.txt, (first line contains number of, second line must be the word “none” - indicating no global

path specified, then filenames come 1 per line on the following lines). Like:

none

/home/bjn/data1/file1.case

/home/bjn/data2/file_b.case

/home/bjn/data3/bruce.case

Another Example

An EnSight Gold unstructured transient geometry model with a couple of variables, in 4 partitions, like:

Using Method 1:

If they all reside in the same directory (/home/bjn), a method 1 SOS casefile that will use just 2 servers (perhaps

named bjn_4x2.sos) should look like:

FORMAT

type: master_server gold

MULTIPLE_CASEFILES

total number of cfiles: 4

cfiles global path: /home/bjn

cfiles: bjn1.case

bjn2.case

bjn3.case

bjn4.case

SERVERS

number of servers: 2 repeat

bjn1.case bjn2.case bjn3.case bjn4.case

bjn1.geo0000 bjn2.geo0000 bjn3.geo0000 bjn4.geo0000

bjn1.geo0001 bjn2.geo0001 bjn3.geo0001 bjn4.geo0001

bjn1.scalar0000 bjn2.scalar0000 bjn3.scalar0000 bjn4.scalar0000

bjn1.scalar0001 bjn2.scalar0001 bjn3.scalar0001 bjn4.scalar0001

bjn1.evector0000 bjn2.evector0000 bjn3.evector0000 bjn4.evector0000

bjn1.evector0001 bjn2.evector0001 bjn3.evector0001 bjn4.evector0001

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machine id: gun

executable: ensight9.server

Using Method 2:

If they all reside in the same directory (/home/bjn), a method 2 SOS casefile that will use just 2 servers should look

like:

FORMAT

type: master_server gold

MULTIPLE_CASEFILES

total number of cfiles: 4

cfiles global path: /home/bjn

cfiles pattern: bjn*.case

cfiles start number: 1

cfiles increment: 1

SERVERS

number of servers: 2 repeat

machine id: gun

executable: ensight9.server

Using Method 3:

For this one, lets change things and say that they reside in separate directories, like:

the SOS casefile could look like:

FORMAT

type: master_server gold

MULTIPLE_CASEFILES

cfiles file: /scratch/bjn.txt

SERVERS

number of servers: 2 repeat

machine id: gun

executable: ensight9.server

and the /scratch/bjn.txt file could look like:

none

/scratch/portion1/bjn1.case

/scratch/portion2/bjn2.case

/scratch/portion3/bjn3.case

/scratch/portion4/bjn4.case

or could look like: (See the Other Notes below)

/scratch

portion1/bjn1.case

portion2/bjn2.case

portion3/bjn3.case

portion4/bjn4.case

/scratch/portion1 /scratch/portion2 /scratch/portion3 /scratch/portion4

bjn1.case bjn2.case bjn3.case bjn4.case

bjn1.geo0000 bjn2.geo0000 bjn3.geo0000 bjn4.geo0000

bjn1.geo0001 bjn2.geo0001 bjn3.geo0001 bjn4.geo0001

bjn1.scalar0000 bjn2.scalar0000 bjn3.scalar0000 bjn4.scalar0000

bjn1.scalar0001 bjn2.scalar0001 bjn3.scalar0001 bjn4.scalar0001

bjn1.evector0000 bjn2.evector0000 bjn3.evector0000 bjn4.evector0000

bjn1.evector0001 bjn2.evector0001 bjn3.evector0001 bjn4.evector0001

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OTHER NOTES:

When your casefile data resides in separate directories below a parent, such as:

/home/bjn

/home/bjn/data1

/home/bjn/data2

/home/bjn/data3

it is valid to use the global path to specify the parent directory, and the individual files to give the path on down. Such

as:

cfiles global path: /home/bjn

cfiles: data1/file1.case

data2/file_b.case

data3/bruce.case

This will result internally as the same thing as if you had done:

cfiles: /home/bjn/data1/file1.case

/home/bjn/data2/file_b.case

/home/bjn/data3/bruce.case

APPENDED_CASEFILES Variation:

If you desire to use all casefiles on one server, you can obviously do so with the above option by using the SOS with

one server. However, there is a variation on this option that can be used without using the SOS. It can be used with

a client and server alone.

It is very similar to the MULTIPLE_CASEFILES option in an SOS casefile, except that it is placed in the first regular

casefile of the series - the one that you will read. It uses APPENDED_CASEFILES as the section header, and lists

just the additonal casefiles (not the one that this is placed in).

So instead of using the SOS with an SOS casefile like:

FORMAT

type: master_server gold

MULTIPLE_CASEFILES

total number of cfiles: 4

cfiles global path: /home/bjn

cfiles: bjn1.case

bjn2.case

bjn3.case

bjn4.case

SERVERS

number of servers: 1

machine id: gun

executable: ensight92.server

You could place the following in bjn1.case:

FORMAT

type: ensight gold

GEOMETRY

model: bjn1.geo

VARIABLE

scalar per node: scalar bjn1.scl

APPENDED_CASEFILES

total number of casefiles: 3

cfiles global path: /home/bjn

cfiles: bjn2.case

bjn3.case

bjn4.case

Note that all current limitations for the MULTIPLE_CASEFILES option (which were enumerated above) also

apply to the APPENDED_CASEFILES option. The two options cannot be used in combination. It is an either

Page 71

or situation.

SEE ALSO

How To Read Data

How To Setup for Parallel Computation

How To Use Resource Management

User Manual: Server-of-Server Casefile Format

Page 72

Read User Defined

INTRODUCTION

EnSight provides a mechanism for users to write their own readers and have the code automatically link and execute

at run-time (using a shared library).This capability is documented in the EnSight Interface Manual. As indicated in

that manual, sample readers, as well as the code for several actual readers are provided below the following

directory: $CEI_HOME/ensight92/src/readers/. In subdirectories underneath, are README files that contain

the latest information on using existing user defined readers.

Also, as explained in that manual, be aware that a udr_checker.c file is provided in $CEI_HOME/ensight92/src/

readers/checker directory. This can be used to debug your User-defined reader before using it with EnSight.

OTHER NOTES

When starting EnSight (ensight92 or ensight92.server), you can use the command line option “-readerdbg” to echo

user defined reader loading status. This will allow you to see what readers are actually being loaded.

Set the environment variable ENSIGHT9_READER to point to the path where additional user defined readers exist

and then start up with the -readerdbg option described above to verify that you are loading the reader(s) of interest.

SEE ALSO

The EnSight Interface Manual, as well as:

How To Read Data

Page 73

Do Structured Extraction

INTRODUCTION

When building parts from the Data Part Loader dialog for structured parts (Ensight6 structured parts, EnSight gold

structured parts, PLOT3D parts), there is some flexibility in what is actually extracted. If the model contains iblanking,

then you have control over which iblanking domain to use, namely Inside, Outside (blanked out), or All (which ignores

the iblanking). If no iblanking in the model, the domain is All by default. You can extract all or portions of zones at

original or coarser resolutions, do the extractions on single or multiple zones, extract planes at every delta value

within a zone, etc.

BASIC OPERATION

When extracting the domain parts, whether iblanked or not, some (but definitely not all combinations) of the options

include:

Extracting a complete zone at original resolution,

1. Select the structured zone desired.

Optionally you can change the domain and provide a part

description.

2. Hit the Create/Load from selected button.

The part will be created and shown in the graphics window.

In the example below, it is shown in border representation

mode.

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Extracting a complete zone at coarser resolution,

1. Select the structured zone desired.

Optionally you can change the domain and provide a part

description.

2. Modify the Step values.

These should be positive integer values. A step of two means

to deal with every other plane, a step of four means every

fourth plane, etc.

3. Hit the Create/Load from selected button.

The part will be created and shown in the graphics window. In

the example below, it is shown in border representation mode.

Note that it is considerably coarser than the previous because

step values of 2, 4, and 5 were used in the ijk directions

respectively.

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Extracting portions of a zone,

1. Select the structured zone desired.

Optionally you can change the domain and provide a part

description.

2. Modify the From and To values.

These can be anything between the ranges shown in the

Min and Max columns. By default they will be the entire

range, but you can modify them.

3. Hit the Create/Load from selected button.

The part will be created and shown in the graphics

window. In the example below, it is shown in border

representation mode. Note that you now get a portion

instead of the whole. Note also that we got original

resolution because we set step values back to one. The

step values can be other than one, and your portion will be

at the coarser resolution.

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Extracting multiple planes within the same zone (these become unstructured),

1. Select the structured zone desired.

Optionally you can change the domain and provide a part

description.

2. Modify the From and To values so that one

dimension is a plane.

One of I, J, or K must have the same values for both From

and To - indicating a plane in the other two dimensions.

3. Enter a value in the Delta field for the dimension that

is a plane.

Only one of the Delta fields may be non-zero, and it must

be one where the From and To values are the same.

4. Hit the Create/Load from selected button.

The part will be created and shown in the graphics

window. In the example below, it is shown in border

representation mode. Note that you now get an IK surface

at J = 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, ...

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Extracting the same portions over multiple parts,

1. Select the structured zones desired.

Optionally you can change the domain

2. Modify the From and To values.

These can be anything between the ranges shown in the Min

and Max columns (which will now be the min and max of all

parts selected). By default they will be the entire range, but

you can modify them. Additionally, “-1” is a valid entry,

indicating the last plane. Minus numbers are ways to specify

the plane from the max back toward the min, thus -2 equals

the next to last plane. (Note: Zero is treated the same as -1)

3. Hit the Create/Load from selected button or the

Create/load all button.

In this example, 4 parts will be created, and they will each be

the full extent IK plane at J = 1 for each of the four zones.

Note that the IK ranges can actually vary per part because the

max is specified, but each zone may be less than the max.

In our example, we then changed From and To to be “0”, thus

extracting the last plane in each zone. Note the image below.

The image at the right includes complete zones that were

extracted, but shown in feature angle representation so

you get the feel of the complete zone.

Page 78

Extracting unstructured iblanked parts.

SEE ALSO

How To Read Data

User Manual: Using Node Ranges:

1. Select the structured zones desired.

Optionally you can change the Domain, From, To, and

Step values.

2. Hit the Create/Load from selected button.

In this example, 4 parts will be created, and they will each

be the full extents at original resolution. Iblanking for the

domain will be ignored.

3. Open the Iblanked Part Creation turndown.

4. Select from the domain parts that you have

previously created.

5. Select the iblanking value to use.

Optionally you can specify your own name for the part

that will be created.

6. Hit the Create and Load Iblanked Unstructured Part

button.

This will create an unstructured part consisting of the

elements which have the selected iblank value from the

selected parts.

Page 79

Use Block Continuation

INTRODUCTION

Given a situation where structured data blocks have been partitioned for analysis on multiple compute nodes, and the

data can be saved in EnSight Gold format, such that a set of cases exists which are contiguous from one set to

another - the data can be read into Ensight using the casefile Block Continuation capability. This allows any number

of these contiguous sets to be clustered and visualized together in an EnSight server. Furthermore, by using this

capability combined with Ensight’s Server of Servers, one can visualize M number of sets with N number of EnSight

Servers. Where m is greater than n.

Please note that each set must be a standalone EnSight case containing a portion of all the parts. The block parts in

each of the sets must consist of a valid subset range of each complete block part. This will require, for example, that

a given 3D block part will vary in only one dimension throughout the sets. Also, each set must be the neighboring

portion or “slice” in the set of cases. Note the following simple example:

With data set up like the above, we might then decide that we will visualize the model with only two servers. We could

combine (using Block_Continuation) the first two sets onto the first server and the last 3 sets onto the second server.

Block Part 1 advances in the i direction.

Block Part 2 advances in the j direction.

Each Case (or set) consists of portions of both

parts, which are specified using EnSight’s block

range capability. Thus, the first case has the red

portions. The second case has the yellow

portions, etc.

Each block part can be “sliced up” in a different

direction, but that direction must continue for all

sets for that part. And the sets must be the

contiguous natural neighbors of each other.

Note that the block dimensions must remain the

same in the non-advancing directions, but they

can vary per set in the advancing direction (even

though in this simple example they are quite

consistent).

i dir

j dir

Portion of Block Part 1 on server 1

(consists of original sets 1 and 2)

Portion of Block Part 2 on server 1

(consists of original sets 1 and 2)

Portion of Block Part 1 on server 2

(consists of original sets 3, 4, and 5)

Portion of Block Part 2 on server 2

(consists of original sets 3, 4, and 5)

Page 80

BASIC OPERATION

To combine more than one of the sets for a given server (what we may call a “cluster” of sets), one must create a

casefile which contains a Block_Continuation section (as described in Chapter 11 of the User Manual).

In our example on the previous page, there were five case files (with their associated geo and scl files).

set_1.case set_2.case set_3.case set_4.case set_5.case

set_1.geo set_2.geo set_3.geo set_4.geo set_5.geo

set_1.scl set_2.scl set_3.scl set_4.scl set_5.scl

and the contents of the first of these casefiles (set_1.case) would look something like:

FORMAT

type: ensight gold

GEOMETRY

model: set_1.geo

VARIABLE

scalar per node: set_1.scl

With the contents of each of the other casefiles differing only in the digit following the underscore.

To “cluster” these as described (two sets in the first case and 3 sets in the second case), we would need to create the

following two casefiles.

cluster_1.case, would contain:

FORMAT

type: ensight gold

GEOMETRY

model: set_%.geo Note the use of % as the wildcard for

VARIABLE block continuation sets.

scalar per node: set_%.scl

BLOCK_CONTINUATION

number of sets: 2

filename start number: 1

filename increment: 1

cluster_2.case, would contain:

FORMAT

type: ensight gold

GEOMETRY

model: set_%.geo

VARIABLE

scalar per node: set_%.scl

BLOCK_CONTINUATION

number of sets: 3

filename start number: 3

filename increment: 1

And we could then easily use an SOS casefile (perhaps named, two_blocks.sos) that would use these two cluster

files:

FORMAT

type: master_server gold

SERVERS

number of servers: 2

#Server 1

machine id: node1

executable: ensight92.server

casefile: cluster_1.case

#Server 2

machine id: node2

executable: ensight92.server

casefile: cluster_2.case

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If you now run EnSight using this SOS casefile, the two block parts should appear as you would expect. Of course, to

avoid any visual (or computational) effects from the partitioning, you would need to be using ghost cells between the

original partitions (sets). See EnSight Gold Geometry File Format and the example file below.

For a description of block range usage, which the original partition (sets) use in describing the block geometry, See

EnSight Gold Geometry File Format

An example of such is the third set geometry file (set_3.geo), which is using uniform blocks with ranges:

Uniform Block Continuation Test - set 3

=======================================

node id assign

element id assign

extents

0.00000e+00 1.00000e+00

-5.00000e+00 1.00000e+00

0.00000e+00 5.00000e+00

part

horizontal

block uniform range

2 2 6

1 2 1 2 3 4

0.00000e+00

2.00000e+00

1.00000e+00

part

vertical

block uniform range

2 11 2

1 2 5 7 1 2

0.00000e+00

-2.00000e+00

0.00000e+00

1.00000e+00

-0.50000e+00

1.00000e+00

Curvilinear and rectilinear descriptions for block parts are of course also valid.

This same file using ghost cells is:

Uniform Block Continuation Test - set 3

=======================================

node id assign

element id assign

extents

0.00000e+00 1.00000e+00

-5.00000e+00 1.00000e+00

0.00000e+00 5.00000e+00

part

horizontal

block uniform with_ghost range

2 2 6

1 2 1 2 2 5

0.00000e+00

1.00000e+00

ghost_flags

part

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vertical

block uniform with_ghost range

2 11 2

1 2 4 8 1 2

0.00000e+00

-1.50000e+00

0.00000e+00

1.00000e+00

-0.50000e+00

1.00000e+00

ghost_flags

Transient Example

If we change our example to be a simple transient model, using the same sets, but now with two time steps:

set_1_00.case set_2_00.case set_3_00.case set_4_00.case set_5_00.case

set_1_00.geo set_2_00.geo set_3_00.geo set_4_00.geo set_5_00.geo

set_1_00.scl set_2_00.scl set_3_00.scl set_4_00.scl set_5_00.scl

set_1_01.case set_2_01.case set_3_01.case set_4_01.case set_5_01.case

set_1_01.geo set_2_01.geo set_3_01.geo set_4_01.geo set_5_01.geo

set_1_01.scl set_2_01.scl set_3_01.scl set_4_01.scl set_5_01.scl

The contents of the first of these casefiles (set_1_00.case) would now look something like:

FORMAT

type: ensight gold

GEOMETRY

model: 1 set_1_**.geo changing_coords_only

VARIABLE

scalar per node: 1 set_1_**.scl

TIME

time set: 1

number of steps: 2

filename start number: 0

filename increment: 1

time values: 0.0 1.0

With the contents of each of the other casefiles differing only in the digit following the first underscore.

To “cluster” these as described (two sets in the first case and 3 sets in the second case), we would need to create the

following two casefiles.

cluster_1.case, would contain:

FORMAT

type: ensight gold

GEOMETRY

model: 1 set_%_**.geo changing_coords_only

VARIABLE

scalar per node: 1 set_%_**.scl

TIME

time set: 1

number of steps: 2

filename start number: 0

filename increment: 1

time values: 0.0 1.0

BLOCK_CONTINUATION

number of sets: 2

filename start number: 1

filename increment: 1

cluster_2.case, would contain:

Page 83

FORMAT

type: ensight gold

GEOMETRY

model: 1 set_%_**.geo changing_coords_only

VARIABLE

scalar per node: 1 set_%_**.scl

TIME

time set: 1

number of steps: 2

filename start number: 0

filename increment: 1

time values: 0.0 1.0

BLOCK_CONTINUATION

number of sets: 3

filename start number: 3

filename increment: 1

And we could then use the same SOS casefile that we showed in the static example.

SEE ALSO

How To Use Server of Servers

How To Read Data

User Manual: EnSight Gold Geometry File Format

Page 84

Use Resource Management

INTRODUCTION

Resources are used to specify which computers are used for running the various EnSight components, specifically

the Server (ensight92.server), the SOS (ensight92.sos), the CollabHub (ensight92.collabhub), and the distributed

renderers (ensight92.client). If you are running a single client and server on a single computer, you may skip this

document.

Resources are an alternative way to specify these computers compared to SOS case files, PRDIST files, Connection

Settings, and command line options. While these other ways are still valid and take precedence for backwards

compatibility, resources greatly simplify specifying computers in a dynamic network environment. For example, SOS

Case files and PRDIST files no longer need to be edited to reflect the current node allocation from cluster batch

schedulers. Resources coupled with native reader support in the SOS even make SOS Case files unnecessary.

Resources can be specified via command line arguments and environment variables. Resources can be specified

multiple times; precedence rules determine which resources ultimately get used. This allows sites to specify defaults

while allowing those to be overridden.

BASIC OPERATION

Resource Files

Resources can be specified via a resource file. Here is an example of a resource file:

#!CEIResourceFile 1.0

SOS:

host: localhost

SERVER:

prologue: “setup_job”

epilogue: “cleanup_job”

host: server1

host: server2

host: server3

host: server4

COLLABHUB:

host: pc0

RENDERER:

prologue: “setenv DISPLAY :0.0”

# epilogue:

host: pc1

host: pc2

Resource files must begin with the ‘#!CEIResourceFile 1.0’ line. Afterwards, they may have up to four optional

sections: SOS, SERVER, COLLABHUB, and RENDERER. Each of the four sections contains one or more ‘host:

hostname’ lines. These lines specify which computers to use for the corresponding section. ‘hostname’ must be an

Internet/intranet routable host name or IP address. A given host name may appear on multiple lines within a section

or in different sections. If it appears multiple times within a section, then that host will run multiple instances of the

corresponding EnSight component if needed.

Additionally, each section may have an optional ‘prologue: cmd’ line and/or an optional ‘epilogue: cmd’ line.

These specify a command to execute on each host before and after the corresponding EnSight component. Note that

the cmd string must be quoted, and may include appropriate job backgrounding symbols (e.g. ‘&’).

At version 2.0, the resource file can accept an optional ‘shell:’ line, like:

#!CEIResourceFile 2.0

SOS:

host: bunker

shell: "/usr/local/bin/ssh"

Note the new version number (2.0) and that the shell line string must be double quoted.

Page 85

How to specify resources

Resources can be specified via resource files, environment variables, and command line options. Precedence rules

determine which resources will be used. Basically, the last occurrence of a resource section (e.g. SERVER) will be

used in its entirety. For example, if multiple SERVER resource sections are found, only one will be used as determined

by the precedence rules.

Since the EnSight Client, SOS, and CollabHub start other EnSight processes, they can use resources. The EnSight

Server and distributed renderers do not start other EnSight processes that require resources.

While many ways exist to specify resources, in practice only one or two will be used given the particular user’s

computational environment.

Client Resources

The EnSight client supports the following ways for specifying resources:

1. the ENSIGHT9_RES environment variable;

2. the ENSIGHT9_SERVER_HOSTS environment variable;

3. the ENSIGHT9_RENDERER_HOSTS environment variable;

4. the ‘-use_lsf_for_servers’ command line option;

5. the ‘-use_lsf_for_renderers’ command line option;

6. the ‘-use_pbs_for_servers’ command line option;

7. the ‘-use_pbs_for_renderers’ command line option;

8. the ‘-sosres file_name’ command line option;

9. the ‘-chres file_name’ command line option; and

10.the ‘-res file_name’ command line option.

If multiple resources are specified to the client, then they will be evaluated in the order indicated above with the later

methods taking higher precedence for a given section.

The ENSIGHT9_RES environment variable specifies a resource file name that the client reads.

ENSIGHT9_SERVER_HOSTS and ENSIGHT9_RENDERER_HOSTS specify quoted strings of space delimited host

names (e.g. “host1 host2 host1 host3”) to be used for EnSight servers and distributed renderers, respectively.

The host names are used in the order they occur. A host name may occur multiple times.

If either the ‘-use_lsf_for_servers’ or ‘-use_lsf_for_renderers’ command line options are specified, then

the client will evaluate the environment variable LSB_MCPU_HOSTS for the resources. The environment variable

specifies a quoted string such as “host1 5 host2 4 host3 1” which indicates 5 CPUs should be used on host1,

4 CPUs should be used on host2, and 1 CPU should be used on host3. The hosts will be used in a round-robin

fashion.

If either of the ‘-use_pbs_for_servers’ or ‘-use_pbs_for_renderers’ command line options are specified,

then the client will evaluate the environment variable PBS_NODEFILE for the resources. The environment variable

specifies a filename in which the file contains list of line delimited host names that were allocated by the PBS

scheduler.

The ‘-sosres file_name’ command line option specifies the pathname to a resource file. This file name is passed

to the SOS and processed by it; thus the file name must be accessible and readable by the ensight92.sos process. If

multiple ‘-sosres’ options are specified, only the last will be used.

The ‘-chres file_name’ command line option specifies the pathname to a resource file. This file name is passed

to the CollabHub and processed by it; thus the file name must be accessible and readable by the ensight92.collabhub

process. If multiple ‘-chres’ options are specified, only the last will be used.

The ‘-res file_name’ command line option specifies the pathname to a resource file. This command line option

can be specified multiple times. This might be useful when generating resource files dynamically: a single file might

specify only a particular type of resource (e.g. SERVER or RENDERER). The last occurrence of a particular section

takes precedence when multiple ‘-res’ options are given.

Finally, a resource file may be selected in the File->Open dialog for the SOS to use.

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SOS Resources

The EnSight SOS supports the following ways for specifying resources:

1. resources gathered and sent from the client;

2. the ‘-sosres file_name’ command line option;

3. the ENSIGHT9_RES environment variable;

4. the ENSIGHT9_SERVER_HOSTS environment variable;

5. the ‘-use_lsf_for_servers’ command line option;

6. the ‘-use_pbs_for_servers’ command line option;

7. the ‘-res file_name’ command line option; and,

8. a resource file specified via the File->Open dialog.

If multiple resources are specified to the SOS, then they will be evaluated in the order indicated above with the later

methods taking higher precedence for a given section. However, the SOS only uses SERVER section resources; the

other sections are ignored.

The ‘-sosres file_name’ command line option specifies the pathname to a resource file. If multiple ‘-sosres’

options are specified, only the last will be used.

The ENSIGHT9_RES environment variable specifies a resource file name that the SOS reads.

ENSIGHT9_SERVER_HOSTS specifies a quoted string of space delimited host names (e.g. “host1 host2 host1

host3”) to be used for EnSight servers.

If the ‘-use_lsf_for_servers’ command line option is specified, then the SOS will evaluate the environment

variable LSB_MCPU_HOSTS for the resources. The environment variable specifies a quoted string such as “host1 5

host2 4 host3 1” which indicates 5 CPUs should be used on host1, 4 CPUs should be used on host2, and 1 CPU

should be used on host3. The hosts will be used in a round-robin fashion.

If the ‘-use_pbs_for_servers’ command line option is specified, then the SOS will evaluate the environment

variable PBS_NODEFILE for the resources. The environment variable specifies a filename in which the file contains

list of line delimited host names that were allocated by the PBS scheduler.

The ‘-res file_name’ command line option specifies the pathname to a resource file. This command line option

can be specified multiple times. The last occurrence of a particular section takes precedence when multiple ‘-res’

options are given.

Finally, a resource file may be selected in the File->Open dialog for the SOS to use.

CollabHub Resources

The EnSight CollabHub supports the following ways for specifying resources:

1. resources gathered and sent from the client;

2. the ‘-chres file_name’ command line option;

3. the ENSIGHT9_RES environment variable;

4. the ENSIGHT9_RENDERER_HOSTS environment variable;

5. the ‘-use_lsf_for_renderers‘ command line option;

6. the ‘-use_pbs_for_renderers’ command line option; and,

7. the ‘-res file_name’ command line option.

If multiple resources are specified to the CollabHub, then they will be evaluated in the order indicated above with the

later methods taking higher precedence for a given section. However, the CollabHub only uses RENDERER section

resources; the other sections are ignored.

The ‘-chres file_name’ command line option specifies the pathname to a resource file. If multiple ‘-chres’

options are specified, only the last will be used.

The ENSIGHT9_RES environment variable specifies a resource file name that the CollabHub reads.

ENSIGHT9_RENDERER_HOSTS specifies a quoted string of space delimited host names (e.g. “host1 host2 host1

host3”) to be used for EnSight distributed renderers.

If the ‘-use_lsf_for_renderers‘ command line option is specified, then the CollabHub will evaluate the

environment variable LSB_MCPU_HOSTS for the resources. The environment variable specifies a quoted string such

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as “host1 5 host2 4 host3 1” which indicates 5 CPUs should be used on host1, 4 CPUs should be used on

host2, and 1 CPU should be used on host3. The hosts will be used in a round-robin fashion.

If the ‘-use_pbs_for_renderers’ command line option is specified, then the CollabHub will evaluate the

environment variable PBS_NODEFILE for the resources. The environment variable specifies a filename in which the

file contains list of line delimited host names that were allocated by the PBS scheduler.

The ‘-res file_name’ command line option specifies the pathname to a resource file. This command line option

can be specified multiple times. The last occurrence of a particular section takes precedence when multiple ‘-res’

options are given.

When using distributed rendering, any hosts specified via a prdist file are used instead of those given by RENDERER

resources. Additionally, any prdist file specified directly to the collabhub, will override one specified to the client.

A Client/Server Example

Resources are not used to specify where a server runs when it is part of a normal client/server session. The default

server connection in the Connection Setting dialog determines on which computer the server runs unless the Client

command line option ‘-c connection_name’ is specified.

A Simple SOS Example

The SOS can read any of the supported file formats in addition to the SOS Case file format. When a SOS Case file is

not used, then the number of EnSight Servers used is equal to the number of hosts specified in the SERVER resource

section.

1. The following resource file ‘my_hosts.res’ is created:

#!CEIResourceFile 1.0

SOS:

host: borg

SERVER:

host: drone1

host: drone2

host: drone3

host: drone1

2. EnSight is started with this command line:

ensight92 -res my_hosts.res -sos

The EnSight Client will automatically check out a gold key and will run on the local workstation, the SOS

(ensight92.sos) will be automatically started on computer ‘borg’ and will connect back to the client. Borg will need to

recognize the name of the computer that the client is running on.

3. In the File->Open dialog the LS-Dyna file ‘d3plot’ is selected and the ‘Load All’ button is clicked.

The SOS will start four EnSight Servers on computers ‘drone1’, ‘drone2’, ‘drone3’, and ‘drone1’ (presumably,

‘drone1’ might be a SMP). The ‘drone’ computers need to recognize the hostname borg in order to connect back to

the sos running on this computer.

Each of the servers will read 1/4 of the data set since the ‘Auto Distribute’ flag (on the SOS tab of the File->Open

dialog) is on by default for the LS-Dyna reader.

Another SOS Example

1. EnSight is started with this command line:

ensight8

2. The Case->Connection Settings dialog is opened. On the ‘SOS’ tab, an entry for host ‘borg’ is created. For

that entry, ‘Executable:’ is set to the name of command file ‘my_sos’, ‘Use default rsh cmd’ is

deselected, and ‘Alt rsh cmd:’ is set to ‘ssh’. The entry is saved and EnSight is terminated.

3. The following resource file ‘my_hosts.res’ is created:

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#!CEIResourceFile 1.0

SOS:

host: borg

SERVER:

host: drone1

host: drone2

host: drone3

host: drone1

4. On computer borg (assuming it’s running Unix or Linux), the file ‘my_sos’ is created:

#!/bin/csh

setenv ENSIGHT9_SERVER_HOSTS ‘cat $PBS_NODEFILE‘

ensight92.sos $*

The file must be in the user’s default path and must be executable.

5. EnSight is started with this command line:

ensight92 -res my_hosts.res -sos

The EnSight Client will check out a gold license key and run on the local workstation, the command file ‘my_sos’

will run on computer ‘borg’ which must be able to connect back to the local workstation by hostname. The client will

start up ‘my_sos’ via ssh. ‘my_sos’ sets the environment variable ENSIGHT9_SERVER_HOSTS to be the contents

of the file specified by the environment variable PBS_NODEFILE (OpenPBS’ dynamic list of allocated nodes).

6. In the File->Open dialog the LS-Dyna file ‘d3plot’ is selected and the ‘Load All’ button is clicked.

The SOS will start EnSight Servers on computers specified in file $PBS_NODEFILE. Hosts specified in the SERVER

section of my_hosts.res are ignored since ENSIGHT9_SERVER_HOSTS takes precedence.

Each of the servers will read 1/N of the data set since the ‘Auto Distribute’ flag (on the SOS tab of the File-

>Open dialog) is on by default for the LS-Dyna reader.

A SOS Case File Example

When a SOS Case file is used with resources, it needs to be modified otherwise the resources will be ignored for the

EnSight Servers. This is done for backwards compatibility.

1. The file SOS case file ‘big_data.sos’ is modified. Two lines are added to the FORMAT section:

‘use_resources: on’ and ‘auto_distribute: on’. The ‘casefile: ‘ line for each server is brought to

the beginning of each subsection.

FORMAT type: master_server LS-DYNA3D

use_resources: on

auto_distribute: on

SERVERS

number of servers: 2

#Server 1

#---------

casefile: d3plot

machine id:

executable: ensight92.server

directory: /tmp

data_path: /tmp

#Server 2

#---------

casefile: d3plot

machine id:

executable: ensight92.server

directory: /tmp

data_path: /tmp

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Note that the ‘casefile:’ line must appear before the other lines for that server

when using resources.

2. The following resource file ‘my_hosts.res’ is created:

#!CEIResourceFile 1.0

SOS:

host: borg

SERVER:

host: drone1

host: drone2

host: drone3

host: drone1

2. EnSight is started with this command line:

ensight92 -res my_hosts.res -sos

The EnSight Client will run on the local workstation, the SOS (ensight92.sos) will run on computer ‘borg’.

3. In the File->Open dialog the SOS Case file ‘big_data.sos’ is selected and the ‘Load All’ button is clicked.

The SOS will start two EnSight Servers on computers ‘drone1’ and ‘drone2’. Only two servers are used since two

‘casefile: ‘ lines occur in the SOS Case file. The ‘number of servers: 2’ line is ignored as are the

‘machine id:’ lines.

Each of the servers will read half of the data set due to the line ‘auto_distribute: on’ in ‘big_data.sos’.

Another SOS Case File Example

1. The file SOS case file ‘big_data.sos’ is modified. Two lines are added to the FORMAT section:

‘use_resources: on’ and ‘auto_distribute: on’. The ‘number of servers:’ line is modified. One

server subsection is specified.

FORMAT

type: master_server LS-DYNA3D

use_resources: on

auto_distribute: on

SERVERS

number of servers: 4 repeat

#Server 1

#---------

casefile: d3plot

machine id:

executable: ensight92.server

directory: /tmp

data_path: /tmp

2. The following resource file ‘my_hosts.res’ is created:

#!CEIResourceFile 1.0

SOS:

host: borg

SERVER:

host: drone1

host: drone2

host: drone3

host: drone1

2. EnSight is started with this command line:

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ensight92 -res my_hosts.res -sos

The EnSight Client will run on the local workstation, the SOS (ensight92.sos) will run on computer ‘borg’.

3. In the File->Open dialog the SOS Case file ‘big_data.sos’ is selected and the ‘Load All’ button is clicked.

The SOS will start four EnSight Servers on computers ‘drone1’, ‘drone2’, ‘drone3’, and ‘drone1’. Since the

‘number of servers:’ line has the word ‘repeat’, the servers specified in the SERVERS resource is used to

determine the number of servers used and their host names. All server subsections after the first in

‘big_data.sos’ are ignored due to ‘number of servers: 4 repeat’.

Each of the servers will read 1/4 of the data set since the ‘Auto Distribute’ flag (on the SOS tab of the File-

>Open dialog) is on by default for the LS-Dyna reader.

A PRDIST Example

1. The following resource file ‘my_hosts.res’ is created:

#!CEIResourceFile 1.0

SOS:

host: borg

SERVER:

host: drone1

host: drone2

host: drone3

host: drone1

COLLABHUB:

host: curly

RENDERER:

prologue: “xhost +”

host: larry

host: moe

2. The following prdist resource file ‘my_conf_with_res.prdist’ is also created:

#ParallelRender EnSight 1.0

router

client

3. EnSight is started with this command line:

ensight92 -res my_hosts.res -prdist my_config_with_res.prdist

The EnSight Client will run on the local workstation, the SOS (ensight92.sos) will run on computer ‘borg’.

The EnSight CollabHub will run on computer ‘curly’. Two distributed renderers will start on hosts ‘larry’ and

‘moe’.

The my_conf_with_res.prdist file here specifies both "router" and "client" followed by blank names which indicate to

use the 'my_hosts.res' file. The "pc" option indicates to use parallel compositing which removes the GUI from the

composited display

NOTE: if "pc" is not specified, then a GUI will wrap the composited display - which is a testing and debug mode. In

addition, no display sync will be used during interactive transformations, producing a lag effect which is quite

annoying.

4. In the File->Open dialog the LS-Dyna file ‘d3plot’ is selected and the ‘Load All’ button is clicked.

The SOS will start four EnSight Servers on computers ‘drone1’, ‘drone2’, ‘drone3’, and ‘drone1’ (presumably,

‘drone1’ might be a SMP).

Each of the servers will read 1/4 of the data set since the ‘Auto Distribute’ flag (on the SOS tab of the File-

>Open dialog) is on by default for the LS-Dyna reader.

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Note that a prdist file can be specified as an option to the ‘-prdist’ command line option. However, if the defaults

are adequate or overridden with command line options, then a prdist file is no longer needed. Furthermore, specifying

the command line option ‘-prdist’ automatically implies the command line option ‘-sos’; previous versions

required the user to specify it. See “Distributed Memory Parallel Rendering” on page 18. of the User Manual for prdist

file documentation, including default values and manual connect support.

OTHER NOTES

See “Resource File Format” on page 13. in Chapter 10 of the User Manual for details on the resource file syntax.

See the EnSight User’s Guide for details on relevant SOS Case file modifications as they pertain to resources. Also,

see that section regarding details on which file formats support auto distribution. Note that not all Case files (i.e. non-

gold) can be auto distributed.

The default SOS and server entries in the Connections Setting dialog will be used as the template for SOS and

server computers not specifically listed in the dialog. This is useful for specifying defaults such as to use ‘ssh’ in place

of ‘rsh’ or to specify a default path.

SEE ALSO

How To Read Data

How To Read User Defined

How To Setup for Parallel Computation

User Manual: Server-of-Server Casefile Format

Resource File Format

Shared-memory parallel rendering

Distributed Memory Parallel Rendering

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Save or Output

Save or Restore an Archive

INTRODUCTION

EnSight command files are useful for restoring the system to a state reached in a previous session. However,

restoring a long session dealing with large files can be a tedious process. Fortunately, EnSight provides an archiving

mechanism that saves only the current state of the system, rather than the entire history of a session.

This capability is useful not only for large data files with several active variables, but also for saving a standard

starting point for sessions. In the initial session, geometry can be loaded, variables activated, a good viewpoint

selected, and an archive written. Subsequent sessions take advantage of this investment by merely loading the

archive (which can be done as you start EnSight from the command line).

The client and server each write separate binary files containing the complete current state of the respective

processes. Since these files are binary, they can be quickly written and restored. Note that an archive only contains

information resident in either client or server memory at the time of the archive. No information is available for

variables that were inactive or time steps other than the current. For this reason, you should never remove the

original dataset and attempt to use the archive as a substitute (unless you know what you’re doing).

BASIC OPERATION

An EnSight archive consists of three files:

1. The Archive Information File. This file provides pointers to the client and server archive files as well as additional

information required to load the archive. An example is given in the Advanced Usage section below.

2. The Client Archive file. This is the client’s binary dump file.

3. The Server Archive file. This is the server’s binary dump file.

(Note that for Server-of Servers, there will be an SOS archive file and then a server archive file per server)

Although each file has a default location, you can override the default during the archiving process.

Saving an Archive

1. Close all open EnSight windows except the main window.

2. Select File > Save > Full Backup... to open the Save Full Backup Archive dialog.

2. If desired, enter a new name for the Archive Information file. You can set the directory for

the Archive Information File by clicking the Archive Information File... button to open a

standard File Selection dialog.

3. If desired, select a directory for the client’s binary dump file by either entering the directory

in the Client Directory field or clicking the Client Directory... button to open a standard File

Selection dialog.

4. If desired, select a directory for the server’s binary dump file by either entering the

directory in the Server Directory field or clicking the Server Directory... button to open a

standard File Selection dialog.

5. Click Okay.

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You also have the option of saving an archive as you exit EnSight.

Restoring an Archive

You can restore an archive either as part of EnSight startup or during an active session. To load an archive on

startup:

1. Select File > Quit... to open the Quit Confirmation

dialog.

2. Click the “Save full backup archive to:” toggle,

and either enter a new name for the Archive

information file or browse to the desired location/

file by clicking the Browse: button.

3. If you browsed to the file, click Save once

you have selected or entered the desired

filename.

This will place the filename in the Quit

confirmation dialog.

3. Click Yes to save the archive and exit.

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1. Use the “-ar archive_info_file” option when you start EnSight. For example,

% ensight92 -ar load.ar

where load.ar is an Archive Information file saved in a previous session.

To restore an archive during an active session:

1. Select File > Restore > Full Backup... to open the File Selection dialog.

2. Select the desired Archive Information file and click Okay.

3. If the original connection (when the archive was saved) was manual, you will need to manually restart the

server.

ADVANCED USAGE

There are times when you may want to modify the contents of the Archive Information file. If you wish to use the

archive on a different machine or change the location of the binary dump files, you can simply edit the file with a text

editor. The following example shows the contents:

OTHER NOTES

Important note! Archives are typically not upwardly compatible with new major – and some minor – releases of

EnSight.