Feko Solver Options

Specify Solver command-line parameters using the GUI.

Only check the geometry
This option allows you to perform geometry checks to check the model validity and exit before the full solution starts.
Tip: First check the geometry of large models for clusters on a local machine.
Process priority
This option allows you to specify the priority of the Feko processes. If the priority is set to Low, the solution could take slightly longer, but the CPU will still be responsive to other work.
Note: For parallel runs, all machines in the cluster operate at the speed of the slowest machine. Starting additional CPU-intensive jobs on a machine(s) in the cluster is generally not recommended.
Export SPICE MTL circuit files
This option allows you to export SPICE MTL harness files for further processing by a third-party SPICE simulator.

Graphics Processing Units (GPU)

Accelerate Solver runs using multiple NVIDIA GPUs based on the compute unified architecture (CUDA). GPU acceleration is only applicable if a compatible NVIDIA GPU device(s) is found.
Note: Minimum requirements for the CUDA device:
  • Compute capability of at least 2.0
  • Driver installed on system must support CUDA 7.0.
Use GPU (graphical processing) for NVIDIA CUDA devices
This option allows you to make use of NVIDIA GPUs to accelerate Solver runs.
Note: Not all solvers fully support GPU acceleration.
Number of GPUs (empty = all)
This option allows you to specify the number of GPUs to use (if multiple GPUs are available and supported by the solver).
List of GPUs (optional comma separated list)
Specify the list of available GPUs using a comma “,” as separation.

Remote Execution

Remote host (hostname or IP address)
Specify the machine to be used as the remote host.
ssh / rsh (must be installed on remote and local machine)
This option uses a remote shell (either RSH or SSH or similar) for launching the process. For copying of the files, SCP (or similar) is used. The remote machine must be able to serve such connection attempts (an SSH daemon must be set up and running with public key authentication). This method can be used between different platforms.
MPI (Windows only)
This option is only supported between Windows machines (both machines must run a Windows operating system). This method uses native windows file copy methods and a shared network folder on the remote machine for transferring the model files and results. The launching on the remote machine is done by the MPI daemon which is already installed during installation for parallel launching. Authentication is done by Windows internal mechanisms, as a result, the remote machine must be able to authenticate the current user either against a domain or its local user database to grant access.

Parallel Execution

Specify number of parallel processes
This option allows you to specify the number of parallel processes to be launched.
Note: If the number of parallel processes is not specified, then the machines (with their specified number of parallel processes) as stated in the machines file, is used for launching.
Full CPU report with run times for individual processes
This option enables diagnostic tests and outputs a full CPU report with run times for individual processes. For normal runs, this option should be disabled to not degrade performance.
Output MFLOPS rate of each process (without network communication time)
This option enables diagnostic tests and outputs the MFLOPS rate of each process (without network communication time). For normal runs, this option should be disabled to not degrade performance.
Network latency and bandwidth
This option enables diagnostic tests and outputs the network latency and bandwidth. For normal runs, this option should be disabled to not degrade performance.

Parallel Authentication Method

Use encrypted credentials in registry (Windows only)
This option uses a previously stored encrypted username and password from the Windows registry. You have to save these credentials prior to starting a parallel simulation using the Update parallel credentials tool1
Note: This setting is a per-user setting and must be updated after any changes to the user's credentials. If using remote-parallel launching, this must also be done on the remote host where the parallel Feko solution is started from.
Use SSPI (Active Directory) integration (Windows only, requires domain)
For this option all the machines must be a member of a Windows Active Directory (AD) domain and the user accounts must be domain accounts. The authentication is carried out using internal Windows mechanisms without having to encrypt anything into the registry.
Note: A one-time configuration of the settings may be required by the domain administrator to prepare the Windows domain for this kind of authentication.
Local run only (no authentication required)
This option runs the parallel job on the local host only and requires no authentication.
Tip: Use this option for parallel runs on a single local machine.
Default (rsh / ssh for UNIX, registry for Windows)
This option always uses the default authentication method for the target operating system.
Windows
The Use encrypted credentials in registry (Windows only option) is considered the default.
UNIX
The public key authentication of rsh / ssh is used.

Advanced

The Advanced field allows you to add command line options similar to when using a command shell.

1 The Update parallel credentials tool is available on the Launcher utility.