Unable to run hmbatch in linux

Tomas_21442
Tomas_21442 Altair Community Member
edited May 2023 in Community Q&A

I have been having issues running a tcl script in batch mode on linux using hmbatch, and I am unsure what the underlying problem might be. Initially, I had thought the problem was with my tcl script, but it ran just fine on Windows on another machine. 

The command I used and the resulting output can be seen below:

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

$ /apps/HyperWorks/2022.2/altair/scripts/hmbatch -tcl Batch_Model_Check.tcl -nobg

$ Altair HyperMesh v2022.2.0.27
 Copyright (C)1990-2022 - Altair Engineering, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
Contains trade secrets of Altair Engineering, Inc.  Copyright notice does not
imply publication.  Decompilation or disassembly of this software is strictly
prohibited.
Graphics: batch

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

After which, absolutely nothing happens - not even any output to even see what errors it might be generating. In case the problem was with my license, I also tried running it as such (obviously pointing to the right server, not literally "license@server"), with pretty much the same results:

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
$ export ALTAIR_LICENSE_PATH=license@server
$ /apps/HyperWorks/2022.2/altair/scripts/hmbatch -tcl Batch_Model_Check.tcl -nobg

$ Altair HyperMesh v2022.2.0.27
 Copyright (C)1990-2022 - Altair Engineering, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
Contains trade secrets of Altair Engineering, Inc.  Copyright notice does not
imply publication.  Decompilation or disassembly of this software is strictly
prohibited.
Graphics: batch

License Path: license@server

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Is there something wrong with the command I am using? I am following the exact recommendations provided on this page to run the tcl in batch mode: HyperMesh Batch Startup Options (altair.com)

Please let me know if you need any additional details or if there is anything else you need from my end!

Thanks!

Answers

  • Ben Buchanan
    Ben Buchanan
    Altair Employee
    edited April 2023

    Like you said you are following the example so I don't see anything wrong. Do you have any commands in your tcl file that are graphics related? I have seen this cause problems in the past when running in batch. Have you tried running in batch on a Windows machine? Or tried a very simple script to make sure you have the batch command working before you try your full script?

    Those are just some ideas. If none of that helps, can you share your script?

  • Tomas_21442
    Tomas_21442 Altair Community Member
    edited April 2023

    Like you said you are following the example so I don't see anything wrong. Do you have any commands in your tcl file that are graphics related? I have seen this cause problems in the past when running in batch. Have you tried running in batch on a Windows machine? Or tried a very simple script to make sure you have the batch command working before you try your full script?

    Those are just some ideas. If none of that helps, can you share your script?

    Yes I have some commands that are graphics related, so it's certainly possible that that is what's causing the issue. That's a good insight on potential root cause - could you elaborate on what you've seen with respect to said graphics related issues?

     

    With respect to my tcl script, I am unsure of how much I am able to share, but I was able to run it successfully on a Windows machine without issue and provide the exact result I was expecting on a test model. If the graphics rabbit hole doesn't lead anywhere, I can look into how much I am allowed to show before sending it - so long as it helps.

  • Ben Buchanan
    Ben Buchanan
    Altair Employee
    edited April 2023

    Yes I have some commands that are graphics related, so it's certainly possible that that is what's causing the issue. That's a good insight on potential root cause - could you elaborate on what you've seen with respect to said graphics related issues?

     

    With respect to my tcl script, I am unsure of how much I am able to share, but I was able to run it successfully on a Windows machine without issue and provide the exact result I was expecting on a test model. If the graphics rabbit hole doesn't lead anywhere, I can look into how much I am allowed to show before sending it - so long as it helps.

    What I have seen is that a graphics command will cause the script to fail. Can you run your script without the graphics commands? Have you run it in batch on a windows machine?  What graphics commands are you using?

  • Tomas_21442
    Tomas_21442 Altair Community Member
    edited May 2023

    Update on this issue if anyone else ends up encountering the same thing:

    In my case, I wasn't even able to run a simple tcl file that prints out "hello world" to console, so it was not a function of my tcl script.

    This fix will be entirely dependent on how you have your altair licenses set up, but essentially the licenses I was using needed to be run on a computer operating at a specific timezone for the correct region license to be pulled.

    To get my hmbatch to run in batch mode, I had to export these two variables in my script before calling hmbatch:

    export TZ=America/Location

    export ALTAIR_LICENSE_PATH=path@licenseServer.domain