As well as running on the local DesignBuilder client machine (as it does by default) the Simulation Manager can also run on a separate Windows server machine on the network. This page explains how to set up a simulation server and how to connect to it from DesignBuilder.
You can read about some of the advantages of using a dedicated simulation server this on the main Simulation Manager page.
1. Download JobServer.zip from the Downloads > Software > Server Software area of the website.
2. Copy JobServer.zip to the machine where the server is to be installed,
3. Expand the zip file.
4. The maximum number of parallel simulations allowed is included in installservice.bat. To change from the default value of 6, open installservice.bat in a text editor and change the 6 at the end of the first line to the new value. For a server dedicated to running DesignBuilder simulations you can enter the maximum value of the number of processors minus 1. For example on a dedicated simulation server with 32 processors you can enter 31 here. Note that entering too high a number could cause other applications on the server to slow down and potentially overload the processor.
DBJobServer install . 27042 6
Note: This step is optional as the maximum number of parallel simulations can be edited in the Simulation Manager user interface from the Settings dialog.
5. Run installservice.bat.
The Simulation Manager service should now be running. You can ensure that the DBJobServer service is running using the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Administrative Tools > Services. You are looking for Status = "Started" as shown below.
If it isn't running for any reason you may need to open a command prompt window (with admin rights) and use the cd command to move to the folder into which you have the installservice.bat file and then run the installation service from within the command prompt window.
6. Ensure incoming connections to the server are allowed and not blocked by a firewall. To do this you should create an exception for the executable, DBJobServer.exe (not a particular port).
Note: The .NET Framework v3.5 or later must be installed on the server for the service to run correctly.
The Simulation Manager Server can be selected from the Server list on the Simulation Manager tab of the Simulation Options dialog:
This list can be changed by editing the contents of JobServers.txt on the DesignBuilder client machine which can be found at C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\DesignBuilder\JobServer. The above list was generated by the following contents in JobServers.txt:
localhost,27042,User,123456
192.168.1.41,27042,User,123456
Each line in JobServers.txt represents a server that can be accessed from the client machine. The format of each line is:
host (or IP address),Port,Username,Password
DesignBuilder comes with a pre-installed pre-defined host called localhost.which is the first line in the above file. The second line points to a simulation server running on the network at IP address 192.168.1.41 on port 27042 with username "User" and password "123456".
Note: In current versions you must only change the server IP address and port and keep the default username and password ("User and 123456 respectively).
If you edit JobServers.txt you must reopen the Simulation Calculation Options dialog to see the effects.
Although JobServers.txt is provided in the distribution for installing on a server it is not used in this case and should be left in its default state.
The Simulation Manager Server automatically downloads the version of EnergyPlus requested for the simulation into the folder:
C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\DesignBuilder\JobServer\Jobs\EnergyPlus\versions
If you have been informed by the Support Desk about an update or if there was some problem with the download initially then you can ensure that the programs will downloaded again by clearing out all files from the above folder before running new simulations using the Simulation Manager.
You may notice that simulations take a little longer to carry out the first time as EnergyPlus needs to be downloaded. After this EnergyPlus is cached and the download is not necessary.
The first time you request a simulation in the Simulation Manager for a particular version of EnergyPlus (or after clearing the cache) you must have an Internet connection to allow EnergyPlus to be downloaded.