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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 / SUSE
• 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 / SUSE contains modelling software (incl. licenses), OS usually dependent on 3rd party modules and modelling software
• recommended minimum 2, 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 /
SUS
• SUSE. 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.

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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:

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• 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

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 / MQ server.

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.

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• Master Controller server running Master Controller(s), Application Server (JBoss or Weblogic),   Apache Tomcat for Admin Interface and
• 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.

Containerization

In 2018.02 docker support is introduced.

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.

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Windows VC-Redistributables

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