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Table Of Contents
Server Farm Installation .................................................................................................................. 1
Server Farm Installation Tutorial.................................................................................................. 1
Introduction............................................................................................................................... 1
Farm Controller and Farm Manager Installation ...................................................................... 2
Server Farm Configuration ....................................................................................................... 5
Using Server Farm .......................................................................................................................... 9
Using Server Farm Tutorial.......................................................................................................... 9
Introduction............................................................................................................................... 9
Simulation................................................................................................................................. 9
Troubleshooting ............................................................................................................................. 21
Troubleshooting ......................................................................................................................... 21
Server Farm Uninstallation ........................................................................................................ 24
Introduction
Server Farm is a network that allows one or more users to run their tasks in a distributed
hardware/software environment. At least one computer in the network is distinguished as the
Farm Controller, which is a machine that receives tasks from clients and assigns them to other
computers called servers. The Farm Servers execute tasks scheduled by the Farm Controllers.
This tutorial explains how to create a server farm in a local computer network.
computers that will work as Servers (with a list of tools installed on each of them)
NOTE: Another parameter influencing the server farm architecture is the number of clients who
will use the farm. From our point of view, however, this parameter is not important. The only thing
you should be aware of is that each client of the server farm should have an appropriate ActiveHDL license to use this feature.
The actual server farm architecture depends on resources available in a company (computers,
tools, software, number of licenses, etc.). In our example we assume that we have access to:
5 computers hosting Active-HDL and synthesis and implementation tools you prefer,
named Server1 through Server5. These machines will be our servers.
A computer named FC1 which will be our Farm Controller and Farm Manager in the
same time.
Checklist
Before you start the installation, you need to go through a short checklist to learn whether you
and your network are ready for the server farm installation:
1. Is your network based on the TCP/IP protocol?
2. Do all computers you intend to use as server farm machines run Microsoft Windows NT,
Windows 2000, or Windows XP
3. Do you have at least 12MB of free hard disk space on each computer?
4. Do you have administrative rights on all computers you intend to use as server farm
machines?
If each time the answer was YES, we can begin the installation.
Installation
We will now install the Farm Controller and Farm Manager software on the FC1 computer.
1. Run the FarmMC.exe program located in the \Install\jc folder of the Active-HDL installation CD.
The InstallShield Wizard for Aldec Server Farm and Aldec Server Farm Manager will be invoked.
The InstallShield Wizard for Aldec Server Farm and Aldec Server Farm Manager.
Click the Next button to go to the Setup Type window.
2. The Setup Type window allows you to specify which components should be installed. The
Aldec Server Farm check box installs the Server Farm Controller service, while the Aldec Server
Farm Manager check box installs the Aldec Server Farm Manager application. Leave the two
check boxes selected because we want both components to be installed.
If the installation was completed successfully, you may proceed with the Server Farm
Configuration. In case of any problems, refer to the Troubleshooting section.
See the Troubleshooting section to learn about possible reasons of this problem.
Adding servers to the server farm
Now, when we are connected to the FC1 farm controller, we can add five servers named Server1
through Server5.
4. Right-click in the workspace of the farm manager window and select the Add Server command
from the context menu. The Add Server dialog box will be invoked.
NOTE: Server1 has not been used so far as the farm server, therefore it does not have any
server software installed. The farm manager detected this situation and wants to install the
appropriate service on this computer remotely.
6. Click the Yes button to confirm installation of the Aldec Remote Executor Service on Server1.
You will be asked to provide a valid user name, password and domain. Remember that this user
must have administrative rights on the Server1 computer and all other computers that you will use
as servers. If the user has insufficient privileges, the installation will fail.
7. In our example, the user is FarmAdmin using password serverfarmadm in the domain
DESIGNERS. Type in these values and click the OK button.
The message box appearing after adding the server to the server farm.
Close the dialog box.
You should now see Server1 computer added to the FC1 server farm.
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The FC1 farm manager window after adding Server1 to the server farm.
9. Perform steps 4 to 8 to add the rest of the servers to the server farm. The following picture
shows the final result.
The FC1 farm manager window after adding all five servers to the server farm.
Congratulations! You have completed server farm installation and configuration.
Summary
The installation of the server farm is only the beginning of your work. As a Server Farm
Administrator you may need to add or remove computers from the farm, add tools to servers or
remove them, supervise the server farm controller and its tasks queue. You may also need to
cooperate with the LAN administrator in case of serious problems. The purpose of your work is to
provide fast and effective tools for other designers in your company.
Introduction
Once the server farm is established in the network (see the Server Farm Installation Tutorial to
learn how to build the server farm), individual users may start to use it by sending the tasks to the
farm controller. This tutorial shows how to create the simulation task for the farm and send it to
the queue of the farm controller.
This tutorial assumes that the server farm architecture is the same as the one presented in the
Installing Server Farm Tutorial, which means that there are five farm servers (named Server1
through Server5) and one farm controller/farm manager (FC1). The design used in this tutorial,
freq_meter, is a sample design shipped with Active-HDL software.
Simulation
To prepare the simulation task, you need to open the design first.
1. Select the File | Workspace/Design Explorer menu option to invoke the Workspace/Design
Explorer window.
2. In the left pane of the Workspace/Design Explorer select Active-HDL | Samples |
VHDL_Designs folder.
3. In the right pane, double-click the freq_meter workspace shortcut icon. The freq_meter sample
design will be loaded into the Active-HDL environment.
Before you prepare the simulation task for the server, you need to compile the design:
4. Select the Design | Compile All menu option to compile all source files of the design. Make
sure that the design has been compiled without errors or warnings.
1. Use the Tools | Server Farm menu option to invoke the Server Farm window.
All tabs in the opened window should be empty (assuming that you haven't specified any task for
the server farm from this location so far).
The Server Farm window allows you to specify the task for a tool based on the predefined task
templates available from the context menu. In order to create the functional simulation task for the
Active-HDL design, follow these steps:
A row representing the new Active-HDL simulation task will be inserted into the window. Take a
look at the values in the subsequent columns:
The Type column displays the type of the simulation task that you have just created (Simulation
Active-HDL). This column is read-only. If you want to change the type of the task you need to
delete the existing task and define a new one.
NOTE: To delete the task, click it with the right mouse button and select the Delete option from
the context menu.
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6. Place the cursor over the Notification field; the small button will be displayed on the right side
of the field. Click it to expand the list and select the Notify by e-mail option.
The following two fields (Include Output Files, Exclude Output Files) are used to
include/exclude files from the output generated by the server. By default, the output includes all
Waveform files, List files, Code Coverage files and data files related to the Post-simulation Debug
mode. Let's assume that you do not want to get the files generated for the PSD mode. In order to
exclude these files from the results, follow these steps:
7. Place the mouse cursor over the Include Output Files (the small button will be displayed on
the right side of the field). Click the button to invoke the Output Files dialog box.
The Output Files dialog box is divided into two panes; the upper pane displays the files that will
be included in the generated results and the bottom pane includes those files that will be
excluded from the results. To exclude the PSD mode files:
8. Right-click the *.psd entry and select Delete from the context menu. Next, click the OK Button
to confirm the changes.
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The next two fields - Include Input Files and Exclude Input Files, specify the files that should
be included/excluded from the project when the task is copied to the farm controller. Leave these
two fields unchanged.
The LogFiles field specifies the paths to the log file(s) created during the execution of the task.
The values provided in this field are used later to retrieve log files. In this case, the path to the log
file is created automatically; you do not need to modify it.
The Requirement field displays the name of the tool (in this case Active-HDL) required on the
server to execute the task. You do not need to modify this field; because you have chosen the
Active-HDL simulation task, this field has been filled automatically for you.
The Required Input Files field allows you to specify files that need to exist before the task is
submitted to the server. Leave this field empty. The following field, Required Output Files,
specifies the files that need to exist after the server has executed the task. We expect that in the
result of the functional simulation, the Functional.awf file will be created in the Src folder. Add this
file to the list of the required output files:
9. Place the mouse cursor over the Required Output Files field then click the button displayed in
the right corner of the field. The Required Output Files dialog box will be displayed.
10. Right-click in the Include pane and select the Add File option from the context menu. The
Open dialog box will be invoked.
11. In the File Name field provide the following path: src/Functional.awf and click the Open
button. Click the OK button to close the Required Output Files dialog box.
The last field, TimeOut, specifies the time limit that the task has to be executed. If the execution
time exceeds the specified value, the task is interrupted and reported as not executed due to the
timeout error.
By default, the TimeOut is set to 14400 seconds (24 hours). Since the project in this example is
very small and does not require such a large amount of time to simulate, you may decrease this
value to 300 seconds (5 minutes):
12. Click the TimeOut field - the value will be highlighted and switched into the edit mode.
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16. Save the file (Press Ctrl+S or select the File | Save menu option).
The simulation task is ready. Now, you can run it on the server farm:
17. Open the Server Farm window, right-click the row representing the simulation task, and
select Run from the context menu
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The Run dialog box will be invoked. Values in Command Line, Description and Notification
fields correspond to the values that you have provided while defining the task.
18. Make sure that the selected Farm Controller is FC1.
You may also specify the server that should execute the task (in which case, the task will wait in
the farm controller's queue till the specified computer is ready to execute it) and the exact time
when the task should be executed (in which case, the farm controller will cease the execution of
task until the specified time comes).
19. After you have specified all parameters of the execution, click the OK button to send the task
to the FC1 farm controller.
You will see the progress bar as the project files are copied to the farm controller.
From that moment, you may observe the status of the task on the Existing Jobs tab of the
Server Farm window. The tab shows useful information about the task (its status, owner,
description, time when the task was submitted to the farm controller, the command that the server
will execute in order to complete the task and the result returned after the task was executed).
By examining the Status field you can quickly learn whether the task is:
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After the task was executed, you can view the Return Value field to find out whether the task was
completed successfully or some errors occurred. If there were no errors, you should see the
following result on the Existing Jobs tab:
The Target folder edit box displays a path to the folder on your local computer where the results
of the task will be stored. By default, the folder has the same name as the name of the task (in
this case freq_meter - (original design simulation) 1) and it is located in the Server Farm subfolder
of the design's folder.
The Include files and Exclude files fields contain values that you have specified while defining
the task. You may modify the list of included/excluded files here using a semicolon as the
separator.
21. Click the OK button to retrieve the results from the farm controller. In this case, the results of
the functional simulation include only one file: Functional.awf
If the simulation task has been finished with errors, you may view the log files to find out where
the error occurred:
22. Once more, right-click the on row representing the finished task on the Existing Jobs tab of
the Server Farm window and select the Get Log File(s) option.
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The Server Farm can be used directly from the Design Flow Manager. To prepare a functional
simulation task in the Design Flow Manager:
NOTE: Make sure that the Select Flow option in the Preferences | Environment | Flows
window is set to the Multivendor Flow.
1.In Active-HDL, switch to the Flow window. If it is not opened, select View | Flow menu option to
open it.
2. Click the Flow Settings button
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6. Click the OK button to close the Select top-level unit(s) dialog box.
7. Select the Use Default Waveform check box. This option will force the generation of the new
Waveform file containing all ports of the top-level design unit.
8. Switch to the Server Farm tab of the Functional Simulation Options dialog box.
9. In the Job Description edit box, type in the new name of the simulation task:
freq_meter_orgdesign_sim2. Leave the default value of the Simulation time edit box.
NOTE: The value provided in the Job Description field is used to generate the name of the
macro file that will be later executed by the tool on the farm server. To avoid potential problems
with recognizing the name of the file by the tool, you should not use spaces and other special
characters in the name of the task.
The meaning of the Include Input Files and Exclude Input Files is the same as in the case of
defining a task from the Server Farm window. This time, however, you need to modify the list of
input files to avoid sending results of the previous simulation to the farm controller :
10. In the Exclude Input Files, add the following string at the end: :ServerFarm\*.*
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13. Confirm that the task should be run on the server farm.
Click Yes.
You will see the message box announcing preparation for the functional simulation as the files
are copied from your computer to the farm controller.
14. To find out whether your task has been finished, click the Finished Jobs button.
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NOTE: If you do not see your task on the list, wait for a moment and then refresh the window by
clicking the button in the right-upper corner of the window.
The Get Results dialog box will be invoked. The Target folder field displays a path to the folder
on your local computer where the results of the task will be stored. By default, the folder has the
same name as the name of the task (in this case freq_meter_orgdesign_sim2) and it is located in
the Server Farm subfolder of the design's folder. The full path to the folder where the results will
be stored appears:
<design_directory>\ServerFarm\freq_meter_orgdesign_sim2
The Include files and Exclude files allow you to specify additional filters on files that will be
retrieved from the farm controller. Since you are interested only in the generated Waveform file,
you may provide the *.awf file filter in the Include files field. This way, only the Waveform file(s)
will be retrieved from the farm controller.
15. Click the OK button to retrieve the results.
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Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
If you have encountered any problems during the server farm installation/configuration, read the
following section to find out about possible causes of your problems.
Problem: I cannot connect to the Farm Controller.
Possible cause: The Aldec Server Farm Controller is not installed or is not running.
Solution:
1. Open the Services window (Windows NT: Start | Settings | Control Panel | Services,
Windows 2000: Start | Settings | Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services, Windows
XP: Start | Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services ).
2. Check if the Aldec Server Farm Controller service is present and running.
3. If the service is present but stopped, run it (select the service in the list and click the Start
button).
4. If the service is not present, you need to install it - run the Command Prompt and execute the
command shown in the picture below:
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The manual installation of the Aldec Remote Executor Helper and Aldec Remote Executor
Service services.
Now - go to the Services window and ensure that both services are running.
NOTE: If you still cannot run any task on this server:
Uninstall the Aldec Remote Executor Helper and Aldec Remote Executor Service
services on the computer
Troubleshooting
Possible cause:
The most plausible reason of this error is that the currently logged on user has insufficient
privileges on the FC1 computer (you must have at least administrative rights on this computer to
successfully install the software).
1. Log to the FC1 as a user with administrative rights.
2. Windows NT: Choose the system menu command Start | Programs | Administrative Tools
(Common) | User Manager to invoke the User Manager application.
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Troubleshooting
The Add/Remove Programs Properties window.
2. Select the Aldec Server Farm and Server Farm Manager item and click the Add/Remove
button. The InstallShield will be invoked to guide you through the uninstallation process.
Farm Server
To uninstall the Farm Server software, you need to remove two services from the system:
On the server computer:
1. Invoke the Command Prompt window.
2. Execute the following command to uninstall the Aldec Remote Executor Helper service:
ddp -uninstall
The successful uninstallation is confirmed by the message:
Service ddp was successfully uninstalled.
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NOTE: Even though the services were uninstalled, the related files (re.exe and ddp.exe) are
still on the hard disk of the computer. You may delete them or keep just in case you will need to
install the services manually in the future (see the Troubleshooting section). By default, both
files are stored in the %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32 folder.
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