3. Job Submission

The Job Submission application works to makes computing research and simulations efficient. Using the HPC for your computation, like simulations, requires submitting the computation as a job first. This allows the HPC to run jobs in an appropriate manner, so the limited computability can be accessible to a lot of users. Our scheduling software queues jobs accordingly so they can be processed efficiently. There are two ways a user can submit jobs on d3VIEW, by selecting the HPC configuration manually or selecting one of the configurations from the saved option.

What Will Be Covered

  • Data Storage
  • Submitting a New Job
  • Submitting Multiple Simulations
  • File Explorer Features
  • DOE Setup
  • Saving and Applying a Configuration
  • Managing Jobs

3.1. Submitting Jobs

Submitting a job to the HPC is simple and can be done fairly quickly. The application also makes it very easy to submit multiple jobs at once. In this section, we’ll go over the basics of submitting a new job as well as how to submit multiple simulations simultaneously.

To watch the full process of submitting a simple job, watch the following video. Make sure to read on to learn more about the specifics.



Simulation Files

When submitting jobs, simulation files are processed through the server and compute node to be available to you locally.

Figure 1: Client-Server-Compute Node File Location


Supported simulation files include:

Solver Extension(s) Drop Zone
LS-DYNA *.k, *.key, *.inc, etc.
Star-ccm *.java
NASTRAN *.blk
ABAQUS *.inp
Or any other extension based on solvers.

Submitting a New Job

From the home page, click on ‘Submit’ on the top blue bar. You can also click on ‘New HPC Job’ or ’New Simulation’ located at the top-right corners of your HPC Jobs section or Simulations section. The window pops up showing the available resources required to solve your job.

Figure 2: Opening Job Submission Window


Add Input Files

To add your input file, select a file from the server or upload the file from your local machine. You can do this by dragging-and-dropping files into the upload box. You can add more than one file.

Figure 3: Add Input File


Once uploaded, you can view the contents of your file by clicking on the ‘eye’ icon next its name in the upload box.

Figure 4: View File Contents


If uploading multiple input files, make sure to choose which one will be your main either by clicking on the Main Model button next to the file once uploaded, or adding “main” to the file name. d3VIEW will default to the first file as the main if not indicated otherwise.

Figure 5: Multiple Simulation Files


This input file in the example figure can be viewed in multiple ways including curves.

Figure 6: Curve Viewer


HPC Resource Definitions

Now, you must set your high-performance-computing resource definitions. Select the solver, queue and the number of cores which are the required configuration.

Figure 7: Required Configuration


Other configurations include compression type, node to run on, and whether or not you want to keep the d3plots. Click on “show more” to see how you can customize and define your job further.

Figure 8: Optional Configuration


Add Configuration and Submit

Once you have defined your computing inputs, click on ‘Add This Configuration.’

Figure 9: Add This Configuration


Here, you can review your configuration one last time before finally hitting ‘Submit.’

Figure 10: Review the Configuration


Wait until the status says ’Submitted Job Successfully” with a Job ID.

Figure 11: Watch As Job Submits


Once you job has been submitted successfully, you can view the submit log in the right box under ‘Output’.

Figure 12: Finished Job


You can view your submitted jobs on your home page under the HPC Jobs section.

NEW as of February 10, 2022: If a simulation exists by the same name and by the same user, a new UID with a date prefix is added to it automatically during submission. Here is an example:

Figure 13: Simulation Name UID


Submit Command

You can also submit simulations to the server by using the submit command. Please contact your system administrator or email support@d3view.com for examples based on your team’s production site.

Using the File Explorer

Here, we’ll go over the basics of using the file explorer for adding server files to submit to the HPC.

Start by clicking on ‘Browse Server Files’ to open up the file explorer.

Figure 14: Open File Explorere


Here, you can perform a basic search or recursive search of the files.

Recursive search allows you to search for patterns in files such as:

Key Function Example
^ Starts with ^L indicates anything that starts with ‘L’ (case-insensitive)
*.$ Ends with *.k$ indicates anything that ends with ‘k’ (case-insensitive)
+ All fields with [0-9]+ indicates all files that has a number in the filename

Figure 15: Recursive Search Example


You can also save files to your favorites or view recent files, as shown below.

Figure 16: View Recent Files and Save Files to Favorites


Server Utilization

We can check on HPC server utilization when submitting jobs by clicking on the status bars at the top of the submission window. Watch the following video to see how it’s done.




3.2. Submitting Multiple Simulations

There are two different ways to submit multiple simulations to the HPC. One way includes adding multiple files to upload and the other way involves setting up DOE parameters to send multiple iterations of a simulation.

Activating Multiple Simulations

While submitting jobs, there can be two types of input files, a main input file and support files. Some jobs may or may not have subsequent support files. After uploading your files, if your job requires multiple files for processing, you’ll have to choose which input file you would like to use as your main source. You can also click on ‘Activate Multiple Simulations’ and indicate multiple files as main input to have each file correspond to a separate, new simulation. This feature makes submitting jobs with the same configurations much more efficient.

Figure 1: Multiple Files and Multiple Simulations


Setting Up DOE Parameters

After uploading your input file, click on ‘Set up DOE’.

Figure 2: Set Up DOE


A new window will pop up with the parameters found in your input file. Adjust your parameters manually by choosing this option in the drop-down. Input your numbers in the rows for the given sections. In this example, the table is organized with the different tests as columns for which the parameters can be set.

Figure 3: Set Up DOE Manually


Click ‘Apply’ to finish setting the parameters up. The ‘Set up DOE’ button will now be orange to indicate the parameters are applied.


3.3. Saving and Applying Configurations

While you are configuring a new job, you can save the settings of the configuration to use later when you are submitting other jobs. Watching the following video to see how it’s done but make sure to read on for more information:



Saving a Configuration

First, set up your configuration in the job submission window and click on ‘Add this Configuration’.

Figure 1: Set Up Configuration


Next, at the top-right corner of the review box, click on the save icon. Name the configuration in the prompt box and click “OK” to finish saving.

Figure 2: Saving a Configuration


Now, next time you open the job submission window, you can apply the saved configuration. We will explain how in the next section.

Applying a Configuration

Open the job submission window and upload your input file. Under “Load Saved Settings,” choose the saved configuration you want to apply to the new job.

Figure 3: Applying a Configuration


Once the configuration is added, review the settings before submitting it as normal.

Figure 4: Review Applied Configuration


As stated before, view any submitted jobs under the HPC Jobs section on your home page.


3.4. Generate Preview While Solving

Let’s go over how to generate preview-images while solving your simulation. Watch the following video to see the process of how to set it up when submitting but make sure to read on for more information:



Job Submission Options

Set your job submission options for Solver Version, Generate Preview Templates and Long Preview Interval as shown below to generate preview with no data-transfers. All other options can be set to their defaults.

Figure 1: Generate Preview Submission Options


Here are two examples of preview images shown during solving:

Figure 2: Preview Images


Figure 3: Preview Images


Job Submission Parameters

The following images show the resource, pre-solve, on-solve and post-solve parameters for job submission when generating preview images.

Figure 4: Resource Parameters


Figure 5: Pre-solve Parameters


Figure 6: On-solve Parameters


Figure 7: Post-solve Parameters



3.5. Managing Jobs

Manage all your job submissions under one page through the HPC Jobs application.

Access HPC Jobs

Navigate to the HPC Jobs page under the Application Menu to review and manage all your job submissions.

Figure 1: Add Input File


Figure 2: Access HPC Jobs Page


HPC Jobs Summary and Views

A summary of your jobs and usage (1) will be shown at the top. By default, your jobs will present in a table format (2). You can view your jobs in a grouped view (3), in Simlytiks (4) or as a Gantt chart (5).

Figure 3: HPC Jobs Page


Here is how a grouped view may looked for hoc jobs:

Figure 4: Grouped View


Viewing in Simlytiks allows you to create your own visualizations directly on the page:

Figure 5: View in Simlytiks


In the Gantt chart view, use the blue bar on the left to scrub through your records:

Figure 6: Gantt chart


HPC Job Commands

Each job listed has options for editing, reviewing or sharing.

Figure 7: Job Commands


Share a Job

Choose the share option in the job commands to send a link to another user, a team or to receive a public link to share with anyone.

Figure 8: Share a Job


Choose your type of share in the next window.

Figure 9: Type of Share


Here, we’ve chosen Public share.

Figure 10: Public Share


Now, we have a public link to share with anyone.

Figure 11: Public Link


De-Queue a Job

When a new job is submitting or still processing, there will be an option to de-queue the job.

Figure 12: Submitting Job Commands


De-queuing the job will not return any server files from the simulation (as stated in the blurb when choosing this option shown in the following image).

Figure 13: De-queue Job


You can instead navigate to the Simulations page to stop or abort your job as explained in the next subsection.

Hold and Release

If you need to pause a job, you can hold simulation publishing when it is in submitted status within HPC jobs and release the hold when you are ready. The following video shows how it works:



Abort or Stop a Job

To Abort or Stop a job, start by navigating to the Simulations application page.

Figure 14: Navigate to Simulations Page


Open the simulation to abort it by clicking on its name. Right-click on the simulation to stop it.

Open or Stop the Simulation


The Abort option will be at the top of the simulation’s opened tab in red.

Figure 16: Abort the Simulation




For additional questions about how to navigate the d3VIEW platform, please feel free to email our team at: support@d3view.com.