{"id":2326,"date":"2015-03-17T16:55:57","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T16:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ri.itservices.manchester.ac.uk\/csf-apps\/?page_id=2326"},"modified":"2018-01-22T16:14:47","modified_gmt":"2018-01-22T16:14:47","slug":"fico-xpress","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ri.itservices.manchester.ac.uk\/csf-apps\/software\/applications\/fico-xpress\/","title":{"rendered":"FICO Xpress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview<\/h2>\n

FICO Xpress<\/a> is a platform for building optimization solutions.<\/p>\n

Versions 7.6 and 8.4.0 are installed on the CSF.<\/p>\n

Restrictions on use<\/h2>\n

Access to this software is restricted. The license is owned by a specific research group. Only members of the correct unix group can access the software. Please contact its-ri-team@manchester.ac.uk<\/a> to request about access to the software.<\/p>\n

Set up procedure<\/h2>\n

To access the software you must first load one<\/em> of the following modulefile:<\/p>\n

\r\nmodule load apps\/binapps\/ficoxp\/8.4-smp\r\nmodule load apps\/binapps\/ficoxp\/7.6-smp\r\n<\/pre>\n
Running the application<\/h2>\n
Please do not run FICO Xpress on the login node. Jobs should be submitted to the compute nodes via batch.<\/p>\n
By default FICO Xpress will use all cores on a compute node if it executes parts of its solver that can run in parallel. Hence it is essential<\/em> that you reserve the correct number of cores in the system via your batch script. The CSF has different types of compute nodes each with a different number of cores. Hence you must specify the correct maximum number of cores to match the architecture:<\/p>\n
    \n
  1. Reserve all<\/em> cores on a Westmere or Sandybridge node (max 12 cores) using\n
    \r\n#$ -pe smp.pe 12\r\n#$ -l westmere\r\n#### OR\r\n#$ -l sandybridge           # This architecture should perform better than westmere\r\n<\/pre>\n
    in your jobscript.<\/li>\n
  2. Reserve all<\/em> cores on an Ivybridge node (max 16 cores) using\n
    \r\n#$ -pe smp.pe 16\r\n#$ -l ivybridge\r\n<\/pre>\n
    in your jobscript.<\/li>\n
  3. Reserve all<\/em> cores on an Haswell or Broadwell node (max 24 cores) using\n
    \r\n#$ -pe smp.pe 24\r\n#### You do not need to specify an architecure here because requesting 24 cores \r\n#### will always land on a 24 core node. If you want to run timing tests then\r\n#### you may want to fix the architecture so you can use either of the following\r\n#### architectures that have 24-cores:\r\n#### -l haswell\r\n#### -l broadwell\r\n<\/pre>\n
    in your jobscript.<\/li>\n
  4. Alternatively, reserve a specific number of cores between 1 and 24 and then inform FICO Xpress to use that number in your FICO input file by setting the THREADS<\/code>, for example:\n
    \r\n# In your .mos file add, e.g., for 4 threads\r\nsetparam(\"THREADS\", 4)\r\n\r\n# In your jobscript add:\r\n#$ -pe smp.pe 4\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    Serial batch job submission<\/h3>\n
    A serial jobscript will use just one core. The jobscript will reserve one core if no #$ -pe smp.pe<\/code> is supplied. But you must still ensure your input file informs mosel to use only one core. Make sure you have the modulefile loaded then create a batch submission script, for example:<\/p>\n
    \r\n#!\/bin\/bash\r\n#$ -S \/bin\/bash\r\n#$ -cwd             # Job will run from the current directory\r\n#$ -V               # Job will inherit current environment settings\r\n\r\n# Ensure your .mos file contains the following to use just 1 core:\r\n# setparam(\"THREADS\", 1)\r\n\r\nmosel -c \"cl filename.mos; run\"\r\n<\/pre>\n
    Submit the jobscript using: <\/p>\n
    qsub scriptname<\/em><\/pre>\n
    where scriptname<\/em> is the name of your jobscript.<\/p>\n
    Parallel batch job submission<\/h3>\n
    Make sure you have the modulefile loaded then create a batch submission script, for example:<\/p>\n
    \r\n#!\/bin\/bash\r\n#$ -S \/bin\/bash\r\n#$ -cwd             # Job will run from the current directory\r\n#$ -V               # Job will inherit current environment settings\r\n#$ -pe smp.pe 12    # Specify the number of cores to reserve\r\n\r\n# Ensure your .mos file contains the same number of cores as given above:\r\n# setparam(\"THREADS\", 12)\r\n\r\nmosel -c \"cl filename.mos; run\"\r\n<\/pre>\n
    Submit the jobscript using: <\/p>\n
    qsub scriptname<\/em><\/pre>\n
    where scriptname<\/em> is the name of your jobscript.<\/p>\n
    Further info<\/h2>\n