WAT Distributed Compute Compute Node Configurations

The distributed compute works through a controller node and compute nodes. The compute node needs to be set up in a slightly different way than the controller nodes. This configuration set defines the compute node configurations.

The Compute Node Distributed Compute package can be downloaded here.  Extract the folder to C:\Programs on the Compute node machine.  

Personal Configuration file

The HEC-WAT-Personal.config needs to be in "C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\HEC\HEC-WAT" for all VM's being used for the distributed compute. If a personal configuration file already exists, the contents of this file can be added to the contents of the existing file as long as none of the vmparam settings override one another.

An example of a Personal Config file can be downloaded: HEC-WAT-Personal_ComputeNode.7z


If this is your first time using HEC-WAT, you will need to first download the HEC-WAT software and open the program before you will see "HEC-WAT" in the Roaming\HEC directory.  

Distributed Compute Dependencies

The distributed compute relies on Apache Ignite and a few jars developed by RMA to manage the interaction of HEC-WAT with the ignite capabilities. Similar to the Controller node, all of the distributed compute dependencies need to live in "C:\Programs\DC"

Once the zipped package is downloaded, place the zipped file in "C:\Programs" and extract the file.  You should see the following figure below.

The following files and jars as part of the download package are described below.

default-config.xml

This xml file contains the details of how the ignite grid will function. There are many variations that can be placed in this xml file. This file needs to be placed in "C:\Programs\DC". A few important settings typically need to be adjusted by the user:

  • The port the compute nodes listen on and the controller broadcasts on.  The port number must be the same as the Controller node.  
  • The working directory for the models.  Similar to the controller node, your HEC-WAT project needs to be staged here.  

computenode.bat

The computenode.bat is stored in "C:\Programs\DC" and launches the ignite compute node that communicates back with the distributed compute controller.  Take note where the Ignite home, WAT home, and Java home path names are located and make sure the DC package and HEC-WAT installation properly matches.  If you are following the installation location, these lines should not need to be edited.

WAT home

By default the WAT home variable is set to C:\Programs\HEC-WAT\HEC-WAT, therefore HEC-WAT must be in that location with no version number in the folder. We recommend not changing this variable. If you do, ensure your folder structure matches the variable path.


gridgaincompute.jar

The gridgaincompute.jar manages the integration of ignite and HEC-WAT dependencies. It is developed as a plugin in HEC-WAT that adds the necessary UI components to start a distributed compute and to manage the compute. It needs to be placed in "C:\Programs\DC\Plugin".  No edits to the file are needed.

Ignite Compute Node Resource files

The ignite package for the compute node needs to be placed in "C:\Programs\DC" it will contain all of the ignite jars necessary to find the compute nodes. It also stores the JDK appropriate for the version of the ignite resources. This ignite package is NOT the same as the controller ignite package.  No edits to these file are needed.