Running CFD Simulations in the Cloud

Licensing Autodesk® CFD for running in the cloud

You must have an Autodesk® account to run CFD jobs in the cloud. You can confirm your login through http://accounts.autodesk.com/. Additionally, your login must have entitlements for running jobs in the cloud.

To sign into your Autodesk® Account

  1. When you start a CFD simulation to run in the cloud, a prompt asks you to sign into your Autodesk® account if you are not already signed in.
      Note: If you do not have an Autodesk ID, click Need an Autodesk ID? On the Autodesk - Sign In dialog
  2. In the Autodesk - Sign In dialog box, enter either the Autodesk ID or the e-mail address you used when you registered your account.
  3. Enter your Password.
  4. Click Sign In.

You are successfully signed in when your login name (or e-mail address) replaces the word "Sign In" on the Sign-In button:

Running Autodesk® CFD Simulations in the cloud

The fundamental difference between running locally and running in the cloud is where simulations are run. When running on the desktop, all simulations are run on local or remote computers on a local network, and a traditional software licensing system meters usage. When running on the cloud, simulations are run on the cloud, and Autodesk® meters usage through Cloud Credits. Note that to run on the cloud, your account name must have a cloud entitlement and you must have sufficient Cloud Credits.

The cloud credit cost for a simulation is based on the complexity of the model. For example, steady state vs. transient, or the addition of radiation to a thermal will vary the cloud credits required for the solve. The cost is communicated through a popup menu.

Use the Solver Computer menu on the Solve dialog to designate if the simulation runs locally or on the cloud:

Benefit of cloud usage

A locally solved job may appear to run faster than the same job solved on the cloud. The upload and download are extra time expenses that are not present in the local solve.

A single License can solve only one simulation at a time on local machines. Large analyses may also cause machine performance degradation.

Running on the Cloud offloads the strain on your local resources and runs simulations in parallel.

The scalable solver can be used in the cloud providing 16 times the computing resources at four times the cost.

Monitoring your CFD cloud jobs

The Simulation Job Manager provides real-time status information about your CFD jobs running in the cloud. There are two ways to open the Simulation Job Manager:

  • From the Windows® Start menu, click All Programs > Autodesk > Autodesk Simulation Job Manager > Simulation Job Manager.
  • Alternatively, click the Simulation Job Manager icon in the Windows® Notification Area.

For more information about the Simulation Job Manager, see the Simulation Job Manager topic.

Note: The Simulation Job Manager replaces the Job Monitor used in the desktop version as the tool for monitoring simulation status.

Runtime Limitations

Your Autodesk® CFD cloud analysis has a run limit of 3 days when running with the Classic Solver and 12 hours when running with Cloud Premium. If the limit is reached before the maximum number of iterations, your results are automatically downloaded. At this time, you can choose to resubmit your analysis by resuming from the last iteration. Confirm that the last saved iteration is shown in the Continue From line in the Solve dialog before resuming.

Note: Resuming the analysis from the last iteration is equivalent to submitting a new job in the cloud.

Cloud Premium: Scalable Solver on the Cloud

To run a Scalable Solver simulation on the cloud, select Cloud Premium as your Solver Computer on either the Solve, Solver Manager, or Solver Computers dialog.

The Cloud Premium option is available only to Subscription customers.

If you are a Perpetual license customer, the Cloud Premium option will be visible, but if selected, a message appears indicating that you must be a Subscription customer to access this functionality. You can either change the solve type to Cloud, which uses the Classic Solver on the cloud, or run the Scalable Solver locally by selecting Scalable Solver as your Solver Computer.

To learn more about becoming a Subscription customer, click here.

Continuing a Cloud Simulation

A simulation cannot be stopped and continued if the solver is changed from the Classic to the Scalable Solver:

  • Solver Computer = CLOUD cannot be continued with Solver Computer = Cloud Premium.
  • Solver Computer = Cloud Premium cannot be continued with Solver Computer = CLOUD.

A Scalable Solver simulation cannot be stopped and continued if the simulation is "moved" either to or from the cloud:

  • Solver Computer = Scalable Solver cannot be continued with Solver Computer = Cloud Premium.
  • Solver Computer = Cloud Premium cannot be continued with Solver Computer = Scalable Solver
Note: You can, however, continue from local Classic solver to cloud Classic solver: Solver Computer = MyComputer can be continued with Solver Computer = Cloud.

Troubleshooting Issues with Cloud Solving: Enable Account Benefits

In most cases, difficulties associated with solving on the cloud are due to an issue with the SJM Cache or to an entitlement issue. Prior to investigating these issues, however, be sure to enable the "Web Support" and "Product Updates" benefits for the contract associated with the CFD-cloud service entitlement. You can find these options on the Edit Access dialog while working with the Contract Manager. Enabling these two benefits has been shown to resolve such issues with a number of customer accounts.

Costs for Cloud Simulations

The costs (in terms of cloud credits) for a Cloud solve depends on the solver service and the job complexity:

Solver Service

Simple Job

Moderate Job

Complex Job

Cloud

10

30

100

Cloud Premium

40

120

400

Note: The Cloud service utilizes the standard solver and 1 worker per job. The Cloud Premium service utilizes the scalable solver and 16 workers per job.

The job complexity depends on several factors:

  • Job size (element count in the mesh)
  • Physical model complexity
  • Number of requested iterations
  • If Mesh Adaptation is enabled

The cost of the job is displayed prior to starting the simulation. You will know the cost prior to starting your simulation.

For example, a 10,000 element, flow-only model, running for 100 iterations would be considered Simple. Conversely, a 10,000,000 element model with motion and heat transfer running for 5,000 time steps will be considered Complex.

Stopping a Cloud Simulation

The way in which you stop a cloud simulation determines whether or not results are returned to you and if you are charged:

  • If you use the Simulation Job Manager to stop a simulation, the calculation stops immediately, and no results are loaded to your machine. Jobs cancelled in the Simulation Job Manager will cost a prorated cloud credit fee. The amount of the fee is determined by the amount of time that the solver has been running. The minimum fee is five cloud credits.
  • If you use the Stop button on the Solve dialog to stop a simulation, the calculation completes after the next iteration, results are loaded to your local machine, and you are charged cloud credits.

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