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Setting up a Windows compute server
On a Windows system, you will need to start the Compute Server service by selecting the Gurobi Compute Server menu item from the Gurobi folder of the Start menu. You should only do so after you have installed the Gurobi license key file.
Firewalls
The next step after starting the Gurobi compute server depends on your
anti-virus software and firewall settings. Most anti-virus software
will immediately ask you to confirm that you are allowing programs
grb_cs.exe
and grb_csw.exe
to receive network traffic.
Once you confirm this, the
compute server will start serving requests. If you don't receive such a
prompt, you will need to add grb_cs.exe
and
grb_csw.exe
to the firewall
exceptions list. You do this by
selecting Allow a program through Windows firewall under the
Security area of the Control Panel (labeled
Allow an app through Windows firewall in Windows 8).
You should add grb_cs.exe
and grb_csw.exe
to the list of exceptions.
Some machines have more restrictive firewalls that may require additional action. The Gurobi compute server uses ports 61000-65000 by default. If you are unable to reach the compute server after taking the steps described so far, you should ask your network administrator for more information on how to open the required ports.
Compute server parameters
Note that a compute server has a few user-configurable parameters.
You can set these by creating a grb_cs.cnf
file and placing
it in the same directory as grb_cs.exe
. Please
consult the Gurobi Compute Server section of the
Gurobi Reference Manual
for details.
Starting and stopping the grb_cs Gurobi service
Once the compute server service has been started, you should see the
grb_cs
service listed in the Services tab of the Task
Manager. To start or stop the service, click on the Services
button at the bottom-right of the Services tab, and then
right-click on the Gurobi Compute Server item on this screen.
You can also start or stop the Gurobi Compute Server service from a
console window (also known as a cmd
window)
that has administrator privileges.
Running grb_cs -h
lists command-line options.
Issuing a grb_cs -s
command stops a running compute server.
Issuing a grb_cs -v
command starts the compute server in
verbose mode. Verbose mode produces a log message (in the
Windows Event Log) each time a client starts a job.
To upgrade from an earlier version of the Gurobi Optimizer, you will need to perform the following steps (on all machines running the compute server):
- Stop the old compute server.
- Install the new version of the Gurobi Optimizer.
- Upgrade your license file (or modify
GRB_LICENSE_FILE
to point to the new license file). - Start the new compute server.
sc delete grb_cs
from a cmd
window that has
administrator privileges.
All output from the Gurobi Compute Server goes to the Windows Event Log. You can access this in Windows Vista or Windows 7 through the Event Viewer. Type Event in the search box under the Start menu to launch the viewer.
Next steps
Clients of a compute server require simple license files. Your next step is to set up a client license.
Once your compute server is running and you've set up a client license, you can move on to testing the license.
You can test the state of the compute server at any time, as well
as get a list of both running and queued client jobs, by typing
gurobi_cl ---clients
from a cmd
window.