Delft-FEWS Hardware and software requirements

Many clients wish to know what the hardware and operating system requirements are for a Delft-FEWS live system. On this page you can find a list of specifications. If you have any question about the list, or you do not see the operating system of your choice: please contact us. This list is not exhaustive.

Components

Operator client

The Operator Client (Gui) is the thick client for end users.

• normal pc
• minimum 512 MB RAM, 1GB recommended
• operating system: Windows 7 / 8 / 10, Server 2012(R2) / 2016, Linux RedHat / CentOS
• amount needed: as many as there are clients
• usable in Citrix
• users run with their own log on credential, no admin privileges required

Forecasting Shell Server

The Forecasting Shell Server (FSS) is the server for execution of forecast runs and import tasks. It contains the modelling software and it's operation is controlled by the Master Controller

• minimum 2 GB RAM
• one CPU core per FSS instance
• CPU typically Intel Xeon 2.33 GHz or equivalent
• operating system: Windows 7 / 8 / 10, Server 2012(R2) / 2016, Linux RedHat / CentOS contains modelling software (incl. licenses), OS usually dependent on 3rd party modules and modelling software
• recommended minimum 2 of Forecasting Shell Servers, add more depending on computational load
• Windows and linux forecasting shells can be used simultaneously

Master Controller Server

The master controller organises task traffic and scheduling

• minimum 1 GB RAM per Master Controller instance
• CPU typically Intel Xeon 2.33 GHz or equivalent.
• operating system: Windows 7 / 8 / 10, Server 2012(R2) / 2016, Linux RedHat / CentOS. Other Unix-like operating systems are possible (e.g. HP-UX, Solaris), as long as the procfs system is supported and there is a Java JRE and  with the correct version available for the OS.

JMS Server (no longer required in 2017.02 and beyond)

Java Messaging Service (JMS) controls a large part of the communication between the components.

• minimum 1GB RAM per JMS instance
• minimum 1GB disk space for caching purposes:
• CPU typically Intel Xeon 2.33 GHz or equivalent
• operating system: Windows 7 / 8 /10, Server 2012(R2) / 2016, Linux RedHat / CentOS
• Supported JMS Servers: JBoss 4, JBoss 5, ActiveMQ 5.11 (as of release 2015.02 default JMS)

This component can often be installed on the same server as the Master Controller.

Central Database

This is the central data repository, linked to the master controller. The live system is known to run with the following database versions:

• Oracle 10 / 11 / 12 for versions up to Delft-FEWS 2017.01, Oracle 12c for Delft-FEWS 2017.02 and later

• MS SQL Server 2012 / 2014 / 2016

• PostgreSQL 9.6 or later (9.6 is supported from 2016.01 onwards). In principle higher versions are also known to work. No testing has been done on 10.x versions. Postgres 11.8 is used successfully.

This list is not exhaustive, so contact us if you are thinking of using a different database or a different type.

• advised internal memory and CPU: See Database vendor requirements. Typically 1 GB RAM per DB instance and CPU Intel Xeon 2.33 GHz or equivalent.
• The database instance(s) can be a hosted on an existing database server or cluster.
• uses 1 instance for each Master controller

Open Archive

The Open Archive is an optional component for Delft-FEWS that stores forecast data, performance indicator data and configurations on a longer time scale than in the central database of the Delft-FEWS system.

Hardware requirements

OpenArchive poses modest requirements to host hardware:

• Storage. The most important requirement for the file system is that it keeps on functioning after the failure of a single disk. Any RAID (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundant_array_of_independent_disks) will be sufficient.
• Memory. The server should have at least 4 GB memory available for the elasticsearch catalogue and the tomcat instance which hosts the archive server.
• CPU. The speed of the catalogue (searching in the archive) depends heavily on the CPUs of the server. It is recommended to have at least 4 CPUs available.

Software requirements

• The archive is a web application running inside a tomcat web server. Both Linux and Windows are supported.

Required permissions

The file system containing archive data:

• Must be accessible by the THREDDS server with read permissions.
• Must be accessible by the Deltares Archive Server with full permissions.
• Must be accessible by the Forecasting Shell Servers with write permission

Webserver

The webserver is an optional server that hosts and distributes the webpages generated by Delft-FEWS. Hardware requirements depend on the intended use.

PiService

This is an optional service which allows SOAP clients to interact with and retrieve data from the Delft-FEWS system. Hardware requirements depend on the intended use. In general it is not recommended to have the PiService on the same machine as the master-controller.

Requirements overview

All activities contribute to resource consumption on a computing box, whether that box is hardware or virtual and Delft-FEWS will consume resources when running.

Scalability, number of servers

The components mentioned above can all be located on one (powerful) server or each on an individual machine, with all possible configurations in between. It is however common practice to separate the Forecasting Shell server from the Master-controller server. When using multiple machines it is essential that all machines have matching clocks. This can be achieved by making use of one and the same ntp server.

A typical configuration is:

• Master Controller server running Master Controller(s),  Apache Tomcat for Admin Interface
• Open Archive Server
• Database Server
• Forecasting Shell Server(s)

Typically in a dual master-controller setup every master-controller has its own machine so that maintenance can take place without offline time.

Virtualization

It is very well possible to deploy the master-controller components / forecasting shells in virtualized environments. The Deltares ICT team has most experience with Delft-FEWS on VMWare VSphere with in-depth knowledge but Delft-FEWS is also known to run on Microsoft Hyper-V. Virtualization of the Delft-FEWS back-end services can generally be done without problems.  Take into account that  (not Delft-FEWS related)  modelling software may have other requirements or limitations with respect to virtualization of the Forecasting Shells. 

Grid computing

FEWS can work with grid computing. Especially when working with heavy computations, e.g. ensemble forecasting or 3d hydraulic computing, this can be an interesting option to explore. It is recommended to contact the Delft-FEWS product management beforehand.

Embedded Java JRE software versions and other dependencies

Java JRE versions (from 2018.02)

++++++ provisional text ++++++++
The new client-package of Delft-FEWS 2018.02 (OC/CM/SA/FSS) will contain a 'embedded' stripped-down jre (java runtime environment) based on OpenJDK 11. Together with the Delft-FEWS binaries, it forms the Delft-FEWS base-build. The java runtime libraries are placed in an operating system specific sub-folder in the well-known Delft-FEWS bin folder. The jre sub-folders are clearly recognizable under /bin/windows/jre or /bin/linux/jre. This jre can be easily replaced by any other open source or commercially supported version of java 11. Since an Operator Client/Stand Alone and in most cases also Forecasting Shell Server run in a controlled (and secured) environment, it is not necessary to have this jre sub-folder replaced, although it is technically feasible.

In two other locations java is required to run a Delft-FEWS client-server system: in Tomcat (for deploying the Admin Interface or Open Archive) and for the Master Controller. These are part of the server-package we distribute to you. Although these jre's are not embedded, they can be treated similarly with respect to replacing them (or not) by another open source version or commercially supported version of java 11. The decision to arrange additional 'support for Java' is up to the end user of Delft-FEWS.

If - at some point in time - crucial (security) fixes are required to the embedded jre in the client-package of Delft-FEWS,  Deltares will distribute a new 'base-build' for 2018.02 (or higher). Since the distribution of this (new) base-build will take place via the database (and is uploaded via the Admin Interface), updating of all FSS and OC machines will be rather simple. The update of the base-build (including updated embedded jre) will then take place automatically and will neither be a large maintenance burden nor very time-consuming.

NB. only the jvm.dll and not the java executable is shipped with the base build. The jre release version is listed in windows\jre\release and linux/jre/release.

NB2. The Master Controller and Apache Tomcat 9 (Admin Interface, Open Archive, Fews Web Services and Database HTTPS Proxy) are known to work with the OpenJDK 11 as distributed by RedHat, our test suite).

Java JRE versions (2017.02 and earlier)

Note that for security reasons, java should never be installed inside a browser. Delft-FEWS should only be using the java JRE in embedded form.

Since 2014.01 Delft-FEWS requires a base-build. This base-build requires a (minimal) jre-version. See the table below. For 2015.01, 2015.02 and 2016.01 with Java JRE 8 upgrades above _100, a new base-build is required.

Tomcat webcontainer for Admin Interface / PiService / Proxy

When multiple components require one and the same dll (e.g. for Active Directory / kerberos integration), it is required to run those components in a separate tomcat instance to avoid problems.

JMS providers and their Java JRE versions (no longer present in 2017.02 onwards)

Windows VC-Redistributables

The Delft-FEWS software contains Windows executables requiring a VC++ Redistributable Package being installed.

Security

Read more about the shared responsibility model. >>