Ansys Workbench

This page is for users who want to run the interactive Ansys Workbench application. If you need to run Ansys simulations via large-scale batch jobs, then please consult our main Ansys documentation page, which links to pages for specific products (Fluent, Forte, etc) and gives sample Slurm scripts for each:

Ansys Workbench GUI

The full ANSYS Workbench GUI can be started from a Linux X11 Desktop session running from Open OnDemand. This offers both a CPU and GPU-accelerated node choice.

First log in to the Comet Open OnDemand website:

Next, choose either Option 1 or Option 2, below:

Option 1 - Non-GPU Accelerated

If you do not require GPU acceleration, and are just using Workbench for typical interactive workloads you can run this from Open OnDemand using the standard VNC Desktop Session option:

  • Select a VNC Desktop Session
  • Do not request any GPU cards
  • Choose the interactive-std_paid or interactive-std_free partition
  • Select any other session resource parameters required
  • Submit the session request
  • Open a terminal from within the VNC Desktop Session
  • Run module load Ansys
  • Run module load VirtualGL
  • Run vglrun runwb2 - hit enter twice
  • The Ansys workbench interface should load

Option 2 - GPU Accelerated

If you need one of the Nvidia L40S cards for accelerated rendering or CUDA-assisted processing within Workbench, then you can use one of the GPU nodes instead:

  • Select a VNC Desktop Session (GPU)
  • Assign one GPU
  • Choose the interactive-gpu_paid or interactive-gpu_free partition
  • Select any other session resource parameters required
  • Submit the session request
  • Open a terminal from within the VNC Desktop Session (GPU)
  • Run module load Ansys
  • Run runwb2
  • The Ansys workbench interface should load

This allows users who want or need a very powerful workstation interface to Workbench to book out a session on the HPC to do interactive work or pre/post-process projects which will be run distributed across the wider HPC facility.

This interface works exactly as it would running on a local physical Linux workstation and is accessed entirely through your browser from the Comet Open OnDemand web portal.

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