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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. Best practice is to build small appliances so that the Master Controller and Tomcat Servlet Engine (Admin Interface) all have their separate virtual machines. This setup guarantees the individual components do not compete for the same resources such as CPU and memory. Virtualization of the Forecasting Shells is currently not recommended for heavy computational models. When using virtualization, for every logical Forecasting shell there should be a separate virtual forecasting shell server. The number of virtual processor cores issued should never exceed the number of physical cores for forecasting shells.  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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