To run a client/server model requires launching two codes (apps), often at (nearly) the same time. Here are examples of how to do this on different platforms.
Desktop machine:
You can launch the client and server apps in different terminal windows like this:
% client args ... # serial executable (client) in one window % server args ... # ditto for server in other window
% python client.py args ... # two serial Python scripts % python server.py args ...
% mpirun -np 2 client args ... # two parallel executables % mpirun -np 4 server args ...
% mpirun -np 2 python client.py args ... # two parallel Python scripts % mpirun -np 4 python server.py args ...
% client args ... # serial executable in one window % mpirun -np 4 server args ... # parallel executable in the other
You can also launch both executables in the same window, if you append a "&" character to launch the first app in the background, like this:
% mpirun -np 2 client args ... & # two parallel executables in same window % mpirun -np 4 server args ...
If the two apps use the "mpi/one" messaging mode, they must be launched together using a single mpirun command like this:
% mpirun -np 2 client args ... : -np 4 server args
If the two apps use the "mpi/two" messaging mode, they must be both be launched with an mpirun command, even if one or both them run on a single processor. This is so that MPI can figure out how to connect both MPI processes together to exchange MPI messages between them.
IMPORTANT NOTE: In any of these launch scenarios, for any mode of messaging, it does not matter whether you launch the client or server app first. All the CSlib messaging modes will block when the CSlib is instantiated, until a connection is made with the other app. An exception is the file mode where each app will block at its first recv() until the other app performs a matching send().
Two distinct machines:
This could be two desktop machines on the same network, or two geographically separated machines.
Only the CSlib "file" and "zmq" messaging modes are relevant in this scenario, since you cannot run a single instance of MPI across both machines.
Use of the "file" mode requires a common file system which both machines can write to and where they can both access files written by the other machine.
Use of the "zmq" mode, one machine is the server, the other is the client. The client simply needs to know the IP address of the server and the client and server need to agree on a port ID for sending and receiving messages.
Cluster or supercomputer:
On these machines you typically run from a single window if nodes were requested interactively, or from a batch script in a queueing system (Slurm, MOAB, etc). In both cases the launch comands listed above for a "Desktop machine" should work, so long as a "&" character is used at the end of the first command (launching the first app), so that both apps can effectively be launched at the same time.
TODO: Need to also discuss these issues:
Note that on a cluster or a supercomputer (or even on a single node, i.e. a desktop), the mpirun command gives you control over which nodes and cores an application is launched on. Since you are running two apps (client and server), you should think about how you want to use the available compute resources. If you have P total MPI tasks (typically P = nodes * cores/node), you could do any of the following:
If the computation the client performs is tiny compared to what the server computes, it makes sense to run the server on more processors. Or vice versa. If the client does nothing while waiting for the server to respond, and ditto while the server waits for a request from the client, then it may make sense to run one of the client and server on all processors and the other on some (or all) of the processors. Or at least to run proc 0 of both the client and server on the same core, so they can exchange messages quickly, and because neither will be computing on the core at the same time.
IMPORTANT NOTE: When launching a parallel client or server app that uses the CSlib in parallel you obviously use the mpirun command (or equivalent). When running a parallel app on a single processor, you may be used to launching it using just the executable name (without mpirun). However, when using the CSlib in one of its mpi modes, you MUST usee mpirun to launch both apps. This is because you are launching two apps (the client and server) and relying on their respective mpirun environments to enable each app to find the other and send/receive MPI messages between them.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If a client or server app crashes or hangs (and you kill it), e.g. due to a bug in how you call the CSlib, then temporary files may be left on your system. These will have the names or prefixes specified when the apps instantiated the CSlib. You should delete these files before running again, otherwise the existing files may produce unpredictable behavior in a subsequent run.