JUSTUS2/Software/Dalton

From bwHPC Wiki
< JUSTUS2‎ | Software
Revision as of 18:07, 17 February 2022 by K Siegmund (talk | contribs) (Program Binaries: remove paste of output)
Jump to: navigation, search

The main documentation is available via module help chem/dalton on the cluster. Most software modules for applications provide working example batch scripts.


Description Content
module load chem/dalton
Availability BwForCluster_JUSTUS_2
License Open-source software, distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). More...
Citing Publications
Links Homepage | Documentation
Graphical Interface No

1 Description

Dalton (named after John Dalton) is an ab initio quantum chemistry computer program designed to to allow convenient, automated determination of a large number of molecular properties based on an HF, HF-srDFT, DFT, MP2, CC, CI, MCSCF, or MC-srDFT reference wave function. For additional information on features please visit the Description of the Dalton suite features web page.

2 Availability

Dalton is available on selected bwHPC-Clusters. A complete list of versions currently installed on the bwHPC-Clusters can be obtained from the Cluster Information System (CIS).

In order to check which versions of Dalton are installed on the compute cluster, run the following command:

$ module avail chem/dalton

3 License

Dalton is free, open-source software released under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). Anyone interested in using the Dalton program suite must read the conditions described in its license agreement.

4 Usage

4.1 Loading the module

You can load the default version of Dalton with the following command:

$ module load chem/dalton

The module will try to load all modules it needs to function (e.g., compiler, mpi, ...). If loading the module fails, check if you have already loaded one of those modules, but not in the version required by Dalton.

If you wish to load another (older) version of Dalton, you can do so using

$ module load chem/dalton/<version>

with <version> specifying the desired version.

Please cite Dalton in your publications according to the references.

4.2 Hints for using Dalton

4.2.1 Input Files

For information about how to construct input files (dalinp{.dal} [molinp{.mol} [potinp{.pot}]]) for Dalton, please consult the documentation.

4.2.2 Environment Variables

Environment variables understood by Dalton:

DALTON_TMPDIR             : scratch directory
DALTON_USE_GLOBAL_SCRATCH : use global scratch directory, do not copy any files to worker nodes
DALTON_NODELIST           : list of nodes, dalton.x will be copied to DALTON_TMPDIR on each node unless
                            DALTON_USE_GLOBAL_SCRATCH is defined
DALTON_LAUNCHER           : launcher for the dalton.x binary (if defined, -N flag not allowed)

4.2.3 Disk Usage

Scratch files are written to $SCRATCH by default. This configuration option can be changed by setting the environment variable $DALTON_TMPDIR (e.g., to a dedicated workspace) before starting your calculations with Dalton.

5 Examples

As with all processes that require more than a few minutes to run, non-trivial compute jobs must be submitted to the cluster queuing system.

Example scripts are available in the directory $DALTON_EXA_DIR:

$ module show chem/dalton                # show environment variables, which will be available after 'module load'
$ module load chem/dalton                # load module
$ ls $DALTON_EXA_DIR                     # show content of directory $DALTON_EXA_DIR
$ cat $DALTON_EXA_DIR/README             # show examples README

Run a first simple example job on JUSTUS 2:

$ module load chem/dalton                           # load module
$ WORKSPACE=`ws_allocate dalton 3`                  # allocate workspace
$ cd $WORKSPACE                                     # change to workspace
$ cp -a $DALTON_HOME/bwhpc-examples .               # copy example files to workspace
$ cd bwhpc-examples                                 # change to test directory
$ sbatch dalton-2020.0.slurm                        # submit job
$ squeue                                            # obtain JOBID
$ scontrol show job <JOBID>                         # check state of job
$ ls                                                # when job finishes the results will be visible in this directory

6 FAQ

Q: What to do if my simulations abort with MEMGET ERROR, insufficient work space in memory ?

A: Increase Dalton's usable work memory with either -mb or -gb on the command line.

7 Useful links