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ANSYS BLOG

April 5, 2023

Your Engineering Workspace on Ansys Gateway Powered by AWS

Today's complex engineering projects need access to a state-of-the-art, high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure and advanced computer-aided engineering (CAE) and computer-aided design (CAD) software to meet challenging design goals and deadlines. However, the configuration of these resources at scale, security, and cost effectiveness can require deep technical expertise. Additionally, long deployment timelines in procurement of such infrastructure can impact the time to successfully deliver the project.

Ansys Gateway powered by AWS is the solution to these constraints. It provides developers, designers, and engineers seamless access to Ansys simulation solutions and other CAD and CAE applications in their own AWS cloud environment, accessible via web browser. This will speed up your innovations by overcoming limitations created by fixed capacity of on-premises HPC clusters with flexible cloud-based compute capacity. You can scale up/down hardware resources easily and meet project demands and timelines by reducing time to market. You can access the latest compute, storage, and networking technology, as well as control costs of cloud utilization by entering and managing expenses via a direct contract with AWS rather than through a third party. Ansys Gateway powered by AWS enables efficient and effective production and project management of engineering simulation resources anywhere, anytime, and with easy access.

How Does Ansys Gateway Powered by AWS Work? 

Ansys Gateway powered by AWS can be divided in to two broader parts: the Control Plane and the Data Plane. The Control Plane is made up of the following principal components (see Figure 1):

Control plane

Figure 1. Ansys Gateway powered by AWS architecture, consisting of components based on AWS services.

  • Web Servers (1): These provide the user interface to enable Ansys Gateway powered by AWS users to follow guided-access wizards to create, view, and access HPC clusters, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) instances, and general supporting resources. It also provides the interface to manage access, usage reports, budget and security control, and general Ansys Gateway powered by AWS administration. These are based on automatically scalable AWS Elastic Beanstalk instances that scale to meet the demand.
  • API Servers (2): This is the core business logic where Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) resources, HPC clusters, and VDI images are requested, configured, and maintained with permission from the user. This set of servers handles all functions, from receiving user interface instructions and reporting on status to deploying Ansys simulation software and managing user access. This critical component of the system is supported with Amazon CloudWatch (3) for up-to-date monitoring and reporting to ensure operational efficiency and resilience.
  • Amazon RDS Data Store and Amazon S3 Package Store: The server elements of the Ansys Gateway powered by AWS architecture are stateless, so all necessary data is stored in this resilient Amazon RDS database. The Package Store contains cloud-optimized packages to automatically install and configure selected Ansys applications, including the automated setup of HPC clusters.
  • Active Directory (AD) Connector (4) and Communication Proxy (5): These allow Ansys Gateway powered by AWS to join Amazon EC2 resources to the user domain for seamless integration into existing user workflows. An AD Connector and associated proxy have been developed to securely handle this process. Ansys Gateway powered by AWS secures each data location with AWS Access Control List (ACL) controls. All user data remains generated and stored in the user’s own AWS environment and is secured with encrypted data connections. The user's data never leaves the user's network.
  • Ansys Gateway powered by AWS Compute Agents (6): These agents are installed on Amazon EC2 instances and provide the management capability for Ansys Gateway powered by AWS to install, configure, and manage each instance.

Request the Ansys Gateway powered by AWS – Architecture Overview white paper to learn more about customer deployment, governance capabilities, user workflows, and data security.