[Beowulf] Openfoam advice

[Peter Kjellström]

On Thu, 15 Mar 2018 08:02:50 -0600
Faraz Hussain <info at feacluster.com> wrote:

> I know OpenFOAM is probably one of the most challenging and
> intricate softwares to build and run.. I have been tasked with
> installing it on a system to test how long some benchmark models run
> on 100 -> 1000 cores. My questions are:

First I'd like to point you to the fact that both easybuild and spack
(semi-auto-build-install-hpc-software tools) have support for
OpenFOAM. This may be a good place to start if you don't have Foam
specific knowledge or a lot of time.

Disclaimer, I've not tried to install foam with either myself.
 
> 1) Can I build this as a user, i.e non-root?

Yes of course.

> 2) Can I build it with no GUI support, i.e no paraview?

Yes

> 3) What are some good benchmarks I can run that will scale to 1000
> cores?

This is almost a broken question. That is, one cannot generally say
OpenFOAM will scale well between 100 and 1000 cores. But on the other
hand one can certainly make a case that scales well.

That is, it's rather pointless without a case that has a useful
connection to what the requestor is hoping to do.

/Peter K