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

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
In the Autodesk - Sign In dialog box, enter either the Autodesk ID or the e-mail address you used when you registered your account.
Enter your Password.
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:

success

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 tokens. Note that to run on the cloud, your account name must have a cloud entitlement and you must have sufficient tokens.

The token 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 tokens 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:

MyComputer: The simulation runs locally using the Classic Solver.
Cloud: The simulation runs on the cloud using the Classic Solver.

Note: Adaptive meshing and results visualization are not supported for simulations in 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.

Monitoring your CFD cloud jobs

The Simulation Compute Manager provides real-time status information about your CFD jobs running in the cloud.

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

For more information about the Simulation Compute Manager, visit the Simulation Compute Manager Help.

Runtime Limitations

Your Autodesk® CFD cloud analysis has a run limit of 3 days. 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.

Continuing a Cloud Simulation

You can continue a simulation if the solver is changed 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 SCM 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 tokens) for a Cloud solve depend on the solver service and the job complexity.

For information about token fees, see Flex rate sheet.

Note: The Cloud service utilizes the standard solver and 1 worker per job.

The job complexity depends on several factors:

Job size (element count in the mesh)
Physical model complexity
Number of requested iterations

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

If a job is 75 percent complete and then cancelled, your account is charged the same amount as for a completed job. Results are not available for cancelled jobs.