User Guide

Hardware & Operating System

Recommendations 2022

cmgl.ca #FutureOfSimulation
22.CMG.06
 Contents
Important Notices ................................................................................................................. 3
Hyper-Threading Recommendation ....................................................................................................... 3
System Recommendations .................................................................................................. 4
Recommended Configuration for 2-Socket Workstation ....................................................................... 4
Recommended Configuration for 2-Socket Server ................................................................................ 5
Model Centric Recommendations ....................................................................................... 6
Minimum Hardware ................................................................................................................................ 6
Recommended Hardware ...................................................................................................................... 6
Recommended Hardware for Simulation of Models Greater than 250,000 Active Blocks .................... 6
Recommended Hardware for Model Visualization ................................................................................ 7
Technical Assistance ............................................................................................................................. 7
Network Recommendations ................................................................................................. 8

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations 2

 Important Notices
Starting with this 2022 General Release, CMG software is no longer supported on Windows 7,
and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x, 7.0 nor 7.1. The 2021 General Release version is compatible
with these older operating systems.
CMG only supports 64-bit operating systems and hardware; customers using 32-bit systems
should use the 2012 release or older.
CMG no longer tests, ships or supports software releases on the Windows† XP operating
system. Customers using Windows XP are recommended to use the 2014 release or older.

Hyper-Threading Recommendation
For optimal performance, releases prior to 2018.10 recommended that hyper-threading be
disabled. This is no longer required for Linux_x64 but is still required for Windows, with the
following considerations:
1. Setting KMP_AFFINITY to non-default values is no longer required. If running a single
job while reserving the whole server for a dual socket Ice Lake Xeon Gold 6338 or Milan
EPYC 7513 with RHEL 8.4, then using default settings may provide a benefit. See the
accompanying Performance Recommendations .pdf for more details. Note that for older
AMD processors, setting KMP_AFFINITY (KMP_AFFINITY works with AMD Milan
EPYC processors) to a non-default setting may cause the simulators to crash beginning
with the 2020.10 versions. Please set “KMP_AFFINITY=" to the default setting and use
“OMP_PROC_BIND=CLOSE” or “OMP_PROC_BIND=SPREAD” instead for older AMD
processors.
2. Extensive testing, using Intel processors, has shown that better performance is achieved
when hyper-threads are not used. This is now the default simulator behavior, on
Linux_x64, which means that the number of threads (requested for the simulation)
cannot exceed the number of physical cores, unless the command line option ‘-htuse’ is
used. GEM™ also allows use of keyword *HTUSE *ON in the data file.
3. Furthermore, when the number of physical + hyper-thread cores in a machine is greater
than 64, the use of Linux_x64 executable is strongly recommended; the affinity setting is
not effective (at more than 64 cores) on numerous Windows OS variants.
4. The ‘-htuse’ command line/keyword has no effect on machines where hyper-threading is
off. It also has no effect on machines with operating systems that do not respond to
thread-binding by setting KMP_AFFINITY.
Hyper-threading effects could depend on processor type, hardware configuration and number of
jobs scheduled per node. Please consult your IT department and/or CMG support for further
guidance.

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations 3

 System Recommendations
Recommended Configuration for 2-Socket Workstation

Number of 2 Sockets
Sockets

Processor Dual 28-Core Intel Xeon† Gold 6238R 2.2Ghz-4.0-GHz, (56 cores* total), OR
NEWER. Third Generation AMD EPYC processors also compatible

Memory 96GB – 384GB RDIMM ECC DDR4 Memory, 3200MHz

All memory channels per socket populated for maximum memory performance.

Graphics Card NVIDIA† Quadro RTX4000 or greater

Disk Drive 256GB SSD/NVME drive for OS disk, 500 GB – 1 TB SSD for data disk

Operating Windows 10 Professional x64, or Windows 11 **

System

* May require Parallel tokens from CMG to use all the cores in the system.

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations 4

 Recommended Configuration for 2-Socket Server

Number of 2 Sockets
Sockets

Processor Dual socket 32 core Intel Xeon† Gold 6338R 2.0-3.2GHz (64 cores* total)
Or,
Dual socket 32 Core AMD EPYC 7513 2.6GHz (64 cores total)

Memory 256GB – 1TB GB RDIMM ECC DDR4 Memory, 3200MHz

All memory channels per socket populated for maximum memory performance

Graphics Card Not Applicable; Servers not to be used for Visualization

Most Servers have a built in Video Card on Motherboard and are not configurable

Disk Drive 256GB SSD/NVME drive for OS disk, 500 GB – 1 TB SSD for local data disk,
larger storage arrays/NAS fileshares may be required for ongoing project work.

Operating Windows Server 2019 Standard

System
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 (64-bit)***

* May require Parallel tokens from CMG to use all the cores in the system.
*** Linux benchmarking tests show it to outperform Windows Server platforms for overall simulation run times.

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations 5

 Model Centric Recommendations
Minimum Hardware
• Small/Medium Black Oil less than 250,000 active blocks and/or WinProp™
▪ Intel 8-core or higher, or equivalent AMD-based PC, 16 GB RAM or higher,
Windows 10† 64-bit versions (or Windows 11), OpenGL†-capable video card.

Recommended Hardware
• See previous section for the recommended configuration for a 2-socket workstation

Recommended Hardware for Simulation of Models Greater than 250,000

Active Blocks
a) IMEX™ up to 10,000,000 active blocks
GEM™ up to 5,000,000 active blocks
STARS™ up to 5,000,000 active blocks
• 2 sixteen-core CPU’s Intel Xeon Gold 6326 or AMD EPYC 7343 or similar
• 128 GB RAM or more

b) IMEX™ More than 10,000,000 active blocks

GEM™ More than 5,000,000 active blocks
STARS ™ More than 5,000,000 active blocks
• 2 thirty-two CPU’s Intel Xeon Gold or AMD EPYC 7513 or similar
• 256 GB RAM or more

Notes: For (a) and (b), double the RAM is recommended for larger numbers of components.

Recommendations for the number of cores to be used also depend on:

• Grid aspect ratio

• Direction of highest transmissibility
• Horizontal wells
• Modelling Fractured Reservoirs

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations 6

 Recommended Hardware for Model Visualization
Smooth visualization of reservoir simulation results requires a video card that can handle large
amounts of data quickly, and has the rendering capabilities to support all display features. While
high-end gaming video cards may be able to do this, CMG recommends the use of an up-to-date,
professional-level video card with up-to-date drivers. The hardware and software integration of
professional cards is better than that of consumer cards and generally, drivers are updated more
frequently. For this reason, CMG has been buying cards from the NVIDIA Quadro/RTX line for its
developers and support staff. Other vendors may offer similar quality cards.
The Quadro/RTX line has lower-, middle-, and upper-tier cards. Besides processor speed, the
main difference between these cards is the amount of video memory on the card. The amount of
video memory is directly correlated to the size of the model that can be displayed. CMG is using
"middle-tier" cards to display and interact with models up to several tens of millions of cells.
Factors that influence the model size that can be displayed and manipulated include, but are not
limited to:
• Total number of grid cells
• Number of active grid cells
• Number of refinements
• Number of wells and trajectories
• Number of amalgamated cells

Note: OpenGL version 3.3 or higher is recommended for full support of visualization features.
Integrated Intel HD graphics cards (2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th generation) may also experience some
degradation in visualization performance.

For running our visualization software through a remote setup we recommend using Windows†
10 with the latest Remote Desktop drivers to ensure smooth and consistent performance.

Technical Assistance
If you require technical assistance, or have specific questions about the hardware and
operating system recommendations which are not discussed here, please contact CMG at:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1.403.531.1300

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations 7

 Network Recommendations
In case of a Server/Client system (such as HPC cluster server where workstations submit jobs
to the cluster), CMG recommends a 1 Gigabit/sec connection on workstations, and 10
Gigabit/sec on the server. This is important because the network speed affects the data
transfer speed back and forth between the cluster and the workstation.

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations

June 2022
™ Trademark of Computer Modelling Group Ltd. Copyright © 2022 Computer Modelling Group Ltd.
† Other company, product, and service marks are the properties of their respective owners.

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations 8