Setting up an FPGA Compile Farm

As the administrator of an FPGA compile farm, you must set up a web server on the compile server and connect one or more compile workers to the compile server.

Before you begin the setup process, gain a basic understanding of the FPGA compile farm.

Setting up a Web Server on the Compile Server

Set up a web server on the compile server so that the compile worker and the development computer can connect to the compile server.

  1. On the compile server, verify that the LabVIEW NXG FPGA Compile Farm Toolkit is installed by checking the Installed tab in NI Package Manager. If the LabVIEW NXG FPGA Compile Farm Toolkit is not installed, install the toolkit in NI Package Manager.
  2. Click Start » All Programs » National Instruments » NI Web Server Configuration to launch the NI Web Server Configuration.
  3. Follow the prompts in NI Web Server Configuration to set up the web server.
    You will need the credentials you specify, such as port, password, and HTTPS connection status, when connecting a compile worker to the compile server. Users of the compile farm will also need the credential information when connecting to the compile server from their development computers.

Connecting a Compile Worker to the Compile Server

Connect a compile worker to the compile server so that the compile worker can receive compile job requests from the compile server.

Tip Compiling FPGA code consumes a large number of resources on the compile worker. If the local computer is slow or does not have enough memory, NI recommends that you use a different computer as the compile worker for better performance.

Complete the following steps on each compile worker that you want to connect to the compile server:

  1. If the compile worker is a different computer than the compile server, ensure the computer has the same development environment and is in the same network as the compile server.
  2. Click Start » All Programs » National Instruments » FPGA Compile Tools NXG » FPGA Compile Worker NXG and click Configure to launch the Configure Compile Worker dialog box.
  3. Consider the following options before proceeding:
    If...Next Step
    The compile worker is the same computer as the compile server. Select Use the local compile server and proceed to step 6.
    The compile worker is a different computer than the compile server. Select Connect to a compile server and proceed to step 4.
  4. Enter the login information of the compile server, such as server name, port, username, and password.
    If the compile server was configured to allow admin users only, specify admin as the username.
  5. Enable the Secure connection checkbox if you configured the compile server to use HTTPS. Otherwise, disable the checkbox.
  6. Click Test to verify the settings are valid.
    Resolve any errors.
  7. In the Number of simultaneous jobs field, specify the maximum number of compile jobs that the compile worker can handle simultaneously.
    Tip Generally, one CPU core can handle one compile job. However, NI recommends leaving one core free for operating system tasks. For example, if you have a quad-core CPU, NI recommends setting Number of simultaneous jobs to 3.
  8. Click OK.