HPC on 64 bit LINUX
15.01.2007 18:01
High Performance Computing with 64-bit LINUX
Since October 2006 SOFiSTiK provides a 64bit version of our current FEA software on Linux, called "release 24".
With 64bit computing one bypasses the allocating limits of 32bit programs that cannot provide more than 2-3GB. Particularly the new sparse solver (CTRL SOLV 3) takes advantage of the new version. With this solver you are able to calulate large systems in a reasonable amount of time.
Now the allocation limit is merely the available memory of the operation system. At SOFiSTiK we successfully tested systems up to 2 millions degrees of freedom (DOFs) on a computer with 4GB RAM and 4GB SWAP memory.
Besides, the file which contains the stiffness matrix (on Linux with suffix .zd1) can grow in size up to 16GB, compared to the former limit of 2GB. The size of the database (*.cdb) and the file which contains the eigenforms (*.cde) are merely limited through the filesystem itself.
Release 24 runs on all x64 plattforms. That means all 64bit capable computers with AMD or Intel CPU (not Itanium). 64bit computing on Linux gains a lot from the outstanding memory handling of the kernel 2.6 which can also allocate SWAP memory in a reasonable time.
You have to unpack the .tgz packages of the 24 release manually - usually at /opt/sofistik/sofistik.24
Afterwards you should extend your environment ($SOFISTIK,$PATH,$LD_LIBRARY_PATH) that the programs of the 24 release are used primarily. SONAR should be used to keep your 24 versions up-to-date.
The installation routine "sofinst" beginning with version 11.05-23 installs the 23-versions, as well as the 24-versions.
Following programs are available as native 64 bit versions:
aqb
aqua
ase
dyna
hydra
sofiload
sofimsha
sofimshb
talpa
wing
hase
For any questions feel free to contact us at info@sofistik.com !