Plan the Installation

This section contains the system requirements and a set of preparation checklists that should be followed before installing the software. The checklists include a common section, followed by product specific sections.

Expected System Environment

The Altair Accelerator products are built to run on a well-conditioned network. This outline gives an overview of what is expected to be in place.
  • All participating hosts are networked.
  • The host clocks are well-synchronized (e.g. via NTP).
  • Naming services are functional and fast
    • User/Group account names and UIDs are uniform on all machines
    • Resolution of hostname works (DNS or NIS).
    • Reverse DNS lookup works (get host name from IP address).
  • There is a remote-shell capability for at least the product administrator's account to all participating machines. If not available, use the example .bat files as a guide to create a script, and place it in the appropriate directory. Example startup files are provided in $VOVDIR/etc/boot. Choose the one that best fits your scenario.
  • There are networked file systems on which to place shared files, so that they can be accessed from each machine, using a local path enabled by the NFS. The shared files include:
    • Installed Altair Accelerator software, including at least one branch that must be writable (the local directory).
    • The Server Working Directory (.swd)
    • The users' home directories.
    • Work area for each project.
  • Standard directories, binaries and libraries are available, including the following:
    • /tmp exists
    • /usr/tmp exists
    • gcc libs are installed (libstdc++, libfcc_s)
    • libXScrnSaver RPM, which installs library “libXss.so.1” should be available on Linux in order for vovxidle to work appropriately.
    • libXft-devel

System Configuration Hardware Guidelines

Use the following tables to provision your machines to support your projected usage.

Accelerator and Allocator Hardware Guidelines
Resource Jobs
100,000 1,000,000 >1,000,000
CPU (x86, e.g. Intel Xeon) Dual Core Server Class Quad Core Server Class Quad Core Server Class
Memory 2 GB 16 GB 32 GB
Disk 5 GB 50 GB 200 GB
Server Working Directory NFS or Local NFS or Local Local
Monitor Hardware Guidelines
Resource Checkouts
100,000 1,000,000 >1,000,000
CPU (x86, e.g. Intel Xeon) Dual Core Server Class Quad Core Server Class Quad Core Server Class
Memory 1 GB 8 GB 16 GB
Disk 5 GB 50 GB 200 GB
Server Working Directory NFS or Local NFS or Local NFS or Local
Database Local Disk Local Disk Local Disk
FlowTracer Hardware Guidelines
Resource Seat Licenses
1 10 100 >500
CPU (x86, e.g. Intel Xeon) Single/Dual Core Server Class Dual Core Server Class Dual Core Server Class Quad CoreServer Class
Memory 1 GB 1 GB 8 GB 64 GB
Disk 5 GB 50 GB 100 GB 200 GB
Accelerator Plus Hardware Guidelines
Resource Jobs
100,000 1,000,000 >1,000,000
CPU (x86, e.g. Intel Xeon) Dual Core Server Class Quad Core Server Class Quad Core Server Class
Memory 2 GB 16 GB 32 GB
Disk 5 GB 50 GB 200 GB
Server Working Directory NFS or Local NFS or Local Local