CFD Direct

The Architects of OpenFOAM

CFDDFC on AWS: Configure the CLI

Running CFDDFC with the CFDDFC CLI

  1. The CFDDFC command line interface (CLI)
  2. Install the CFDDFC CLI
  3. Configure the CFDDFC CLI
  4. Launch an Instance
  5. Run on an Instance
  6. Browser Desktop (Web CFDDFC)
  7. Launch a Cluster
  8. Terminate an Instance
[ AWS Setup | Launch with the Console | Launch with the CLI ]

Problem with these instructions? Please send a CFDDFC Support Query.

Configuring the CFDDFC CLI

The user should first configure and check their system for the CFDDFC CLI by running

cfddfc config

AWS CLI configuration

The “config” command first checks the installation of the AWS CLI.  If it is not installed, it provides a link to instructions on how to install using the AWS CLI using the bundled installer.  Please install it, if necessary, then re-run the “config” command.

The “config” command then checks the configuration of the AWS CLI.  The configuration requires AWS access credentials (Access Key ID and Secret Access Key) in order to launch and manages instances of CFDDFC on AWS cloud.  For instructions on configuring the AWS CLI, type:

cfddfc config -aws

Remote Desktop

The CFDDFC CLI can manage and launch a remote desktop automatically with instances of CFDDFC. With the “Classic” CFDDFC, the remote desktop is provided by X2Go and its standard client application can run a remote desktop to CFDDFC instances using the instance connection details and key pair. However, the CFDDFC CLI can launch a remote desktop seamlessly with the command “cfddfc desktop” using the PyHoca-GUI, a command line variant of the X2Go client. For information about desktop alternatives and PyHoca installation, type:

cfddfc config -desktop

The installation of PyHoca is checked by “cfddfc config”. The command also checks if there is a local installation of OpenFOAM and whether cost reporting is enabled.

Web CFDDFC provides a remote desktop through a web browser. The Browser Desktop Connection Protocols and Browser Desktop Free Licence pages describe the network and IAM configuration required to use the browser desktop. The same instructions can be printed from the CFDDFC CLI by typing:

cfddfc config -web

Bash [TAB] Completion

The user can activate Bash [TAB] completion for the CFDDFC CLI by sourcing the bash_completion file in the installation.  They can first test Bash completion by sourcing the file from their terminal by typing:

. /usr/local/cfddfc-cli/bash_completion

Once they are satisfied Bash completion is working correctly, they can make completion permanent by adding the line to the end of their .bashrc file.

Next Step → Launch an Instance