Expanding the Server Capabilities
It is possible to add new functionalities to a NetSolve computational server by specifying additional problem description files in the server configuration file. In fact, a number of PDFs have been written for a variety of serial and parallel software packages: ARPACK, Aztec, BLAS, ITPACK, LAPACK, MA28, PETSc, ScaLAPACK, and SuperLU. These PDFs are available in the $NETSOLVE_ROOT/problems/ directory. If a user has one of these software libraries compiled on the architecture to which he is installing NetSolve, he can easily add this functionality to his server in three steps.
During the configure phase of NetSolve, specify the configure option(s) for enabling the respective library. Refer to the section called Installation on Unix Systems for details. This step will automatically set the needed @LIB line(s) in the respective $NETSOLVE_ROOT/problems/ PDF file, as well as set the required variables in the $NETSOLVE_ROOT/conf/Makefile.$NETSOLVE_ARCH.inc file.
Uncomment the respective line in the keyword section @PROBLEMS: of the $NETSOLVE_ROOT/server_config file.
Recompile the server by typing make server in the $NETSOLVE_ROOT/ directory.
 | Note |
|---|---|
If you are enabling sparse_iterative_sovle or sparse_direct_solve, you will need to type make wrappers followed by make server. |
NetSolve's distributed memory services (e.g., ScaLAPACK, PETSc) are spawned using MPI (mpirun -machinefile MPImachines ...) and thus require an MPI machine file describing the parallel machine on which to run. The name of the file containing this list of homogeneous machines is called $NETSOLVE_ROOT/MPImachines and is referenced in the file $NETSOLVE_ROOT/server_config for configuring the server. Therefore, if you are enabling parallel services within a server, the user MUST edit this $NETSOLVE_ROOT/MPImachines file to list the specific machines to be used. The current implementation of NetSolve allows only one MPImachines file per server. This spawning file is tied to the server, and not to a specific service enabled. Thus, unfortunately, if you wish to enable parallel services on different clusters, then you must enable the software on different servers -- i.e., maintain a separate NetSolve source code tree for each server enablement so that each parallel service can have its own MPImachines file from which to spawn. A future release of NetSolve should identify a separate MPImachines file with each parallel service that can be enabled.
Enabling the LAPACK library
To enable LAPACK within NetSolve, one must perform the following steps:
During the configure phase of the NetSolve installation, type
where LAPACK_LIB denotes the name of the LAPACK library, and BLAS_LIB denotes the name(s) of the BLAS library. If these libraries are not already available on the user's machine, he can download LAPACK from the LAPACK web page. If an optimized BLAS library is not available on the user's machine, he can view the BLAS FAQ for details of availability; otherwise, he can download ATLAS from the ATLAS webpage and it will automatically generate an optimized BLAS library for the installation architecture.UNIX> ./configure --with-lapacklib=LAPACK_LIB --with-blaslib=BLAS_LIB
The user must then uncomment the respective line
in the @PROBLEMS: section of the $NETSOLVE_ROOT/server_config file by removing the # from the beginning of the line.#./problems/lapack
And lastly, the user must recompile the server by typing make server in the $NETSOLVE_ROOT/ directory.
Enabling the ScaLAPACK library
To enable ScaLAPACK within NetSolve, one must perform the following steps.
During the configure phase of the NetSolve installation, type
where SCALAPACK_LIB denotes the name of the ScaLAPACK library, BLACS_LIB denotes the name(s) of the MPIBLACS libraries, and BLAS_LIB denotes the name(s) of the BLAS library. If these libraries are not already available on the user's machine, he can download ScaLAPACK from the ScaLAPACK web page, and the MPIBLACS from the BLACS web page. If an optimized BLAS library is not available on the user's machine, he can view the BLAS FAQ for details of availability; otherwise, he can download ATLAS from the ATLAS webpage and it will automatically generate an optimized BLAS library for the installation architecture. MPI_DIR denotes the location of the MPI library (assumes the standard MPICH distribution).UNIX> ./configure --with-scalapacklib=SCALAPACK_LIB \ --with-blacslib=BLACS_LIB --with-blaslib=BLAS_LIB \ --with-mpidir=MPI_DIRThe user must then uncomment the respective line
in the @PROBLEMS: section of the $NETSOLVE_ROOT/server_config file by removing the # from the beginning of the line.#./problems/scalapack
And lastly, the user must recompile the server by typing make server in the $NETSOLVE_ROOT/ directory.
Enabling Sparse Iterative Solvers (PETSc, Aztec, and ITPACK)
NetSolve offers a 'sparse_iterative_solve' service as a convenient interface to sparse iterative methods packages such as PETSc, Aztec, and ITPACK. If the user would like to enable PETSc, Aztec, or ITPACK within NetSolve, he must perform the following steps.
During the configure phase of the NetSolve installation, type
where PETSC_DIR denotes the location of the PETSc directory containing the standard distribution, AZTEC_DIR denotes the location of the Aztec directory where the include files can be found, AZTEC_LIB is the link line for the Aztec library, LAPACK_LIB denotes the name of the LAPACK library, BLAS_LIB denotes the name(s) of the BLAS library, and MPI_DIR denotes the location of the MPI library (assumes the standard MPICH distribution). If these libraries are not already available on the user's machine, he can download and install the software from the respective webpages -- (PETSc homepage, and Aztec homepage). The PETSc interface is compatible with PETSc, version 2.0.29. LAPACK can be downloaded from the LAPACK web page. If an optimized BLAS library is not available on the user's machine, he can view the BLAS FAQ for details of availability; otherwise, he can download ATLAS from the ATLAS webpage and it will automatically generate an optimized BLAS library for the installation architecture. The ITPACK library is distributed with NetSolve in $NETSOLVE_ROOT/src/SampleNumericalSoftware/ITPACK/ since a small modification to the library was necessary to enable its use in NetSolve.UNIX> ./configure --with-petsc=PETSC_DIR --with-aztec=AZTEC_DIR \ --with-azteclib=AZTEC_LIB --with-lapacklib=LAPACK_LIB \ --with-blaslib=BLAS_LIB --with-mpidir=MPI_DIRThe user must then uncomment the respective line
in the @PROBLEMS: section of the $NETSOLVE_ROOT/server_config file by removing the # from the beginning of the line.#./problems/sparse_iterative_solve
And second, the user must compile the server by typing make wrappers and make server in the $NETSOLVE_ROOT/ directory.
Enabling Sparse Direct Solvers (SuperLU and MA28)
NetSolve offers a 'sparse_direct_solve' service as a convenient interface to sparse direct methods packages such as SuperLU and MA28. If the user would like to enable SuperLU or MA28 within NetSolve, he must perform the following steps.
During the configure phase of the NetSolve installation, type (for example, to enable SuperLU)
where SUPERLU_DIR denotes the location of the SuperLU directory where the include files can be found, SUPERLU_LIB is the link line for the SuperLU library, LAPACK_LIB denotes the name of the LAPACK library, BLAS_LIB denotes the name(s) of the BLAS library, and MPI_DIR denotes the location of the MPI library (assumes the standard MPICH distribution). If these libraries are not already available on the user's machine, he can download and install the software from the respective webpage -- SuperLU homepage. The MA28 library is distributed with NetSolve in $NETSOLVE_ROOT/src/SampleNumericalSoftware/MA28/ since a small modification to the library was necessary to enable its use in NetSolve. LAPACK can be downloaded from the LAPACK web page. If an optimized BLAS library is not available on the user's machine, he can view the BLAS FAQ for details of availability; otherwise, he can download ATLAS from the ATLAS webpage and it will automatically generate an optimized BLAS library for the installation architecture.UNIX> ./configure --with-superlu=SUPERLU_DIR --with-superlulib=SUPERLU_LIB \ --with-lapacklib=LAPACK_LIB --with-blaslib=BLAS_LIB \ --with-mpidir=MPI_DIRThe user must then uncomment the respective line
in the @PROBLEMS: section of the $NETSOLVE_ROOT/server_config file by removing the # from the beginning of the line.#./problems/sparse_direct_solve
And lastly, the user must compile the server by typing make wrappers and make server in the $NETSOLVE_ROOT/ directory.