CFDDFC Command Line Interface

CFD Direct From the Cloud™ (CFDDFC) is our established platform for running OpenFOAM, ParaView and supporting software using cloud computing.  Our command line interface (CLI) provides quick, simple deployment of CFD workloads with CFDDFC on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2).

Quick to Set Up

The CLI is a simple shell script named cfddfc that users can be ready to run with the following short steps.

1. Create an account on AWS (this can be done by an authorised budget holder).
2. Login to the AWS account and create access credentials with permissions to launch EC2 instances using the Identity and Access Management (IAM).
3. Install the AWS CLI and configure using the access credentials (Access Key ID and Secret Access Key) on the user’s computer.
4. Install the CFDDFC CLI on the user’s computer.

Easy to Use

The user can then run the cfddfc script in a terminal which includes the following subcommands:

• config, to check the configuration;
• launch, to launch as instance;
• files, push and pull, to manage files and transfer them to and from the instance;
• login, run and desktopto run on the instance;
• terminate, to terminate the instance;
• list, test, attach and detach to manage local instances.

Promotes Low Cost CFD

The “cfddfc launch” command launches EC2 Spot Instances by default, to provide low cost of running CFD in the cloud.  The launch log presents the user with a cost estimate based on average spot price from the previous 3 days.  The instance is fully operational in approximately 2 minutes, when the user can transfer OpenFOAM case files to the instance.  The tool provides an estimate of the cost of data transfer to help users manage their budget and encourage less wasteful use of bandwidth and storage.

Running Simulations

Once transferred, the user can run CFD workloads by executing commands directly with the run command or by logging into the remote machine via the terminal (login) or remote desktop (desktop).  The user can transfer results back to the local machine, and once the simulation is complete, can terminate the instance.

Getting Started

Go to CFDDFC on AWS: Command Line Interface (CLI) for instructions to start using the CFDDFC CLI.