Glossary

Here are definitions of some common terms that you may see when using Ansys Access on Microsoft Azure or viewing the help:

Autoscaling Cluster: An HPC cluster that is scaled up or down automatically to meet workload demands. Scaling determines the number of nodes that are provisioned to do the work.
Azure: Microsoft Azure is a cloud platform that offers compute and storage infrastructure from data centers around the world.
Budget Cap: A spending limit placed on a project space to help manage costs.
Capacity: The availability of virtual machines in a selected Azure region at a given time. Capacity changes as users launch virtual machines into Virtual Networks (VNets).
FQDN: Fully Qualified Domain Name. The complete address of a computer that can be accessed on the Internet.
GPU: Graphics Processing Unit. A processor designed to accelerate graphics rendering.
GPU computing: Accelerates simulations by offloading some of the compute-intensive calculations to the GPU.
GRID driver: A driver for NVIDIA GPUs which enables accelerated graphics display as well as GPU computing.
Hyper-threading: A technology on Intel hardware which allows a single physical processor core to behave like two logical processors, essentially allowing two independent threads to run in parallel. This enables more data to be processed in less time, improving performance and efficiency.
IP Address: A unique string of characters used to identify a device that is connected to a network and uses the Internet Protocol for communication.
KDE Desktop: K Desktop Environment (KDE) provides a graphical user interface for working on a Linux machine. For example, KDE provides a file manager and window manager.
Location: An Azure datacenter location. A datacenter provides the hardware and networking systems needed for data storage and high-performance computing.
NFS Storage: The Network File System (NFS) protocol is a mechanism for creating a file system on a Linux virtual machine. Enables users to access files on a remote server.
OS Image: A template for creating new virtual desktop instances. It is a file that contains a virtual disk that contains a bootable operating system.
Project Space: An area containing resources such as virtual desktops and HPC clusters. Each project space is accessible to selected users who have been assigned permissions in the project space.
Project Space Administrator: A user who has been granted 'Admin' permission in a project space. They can add resources, control user permissions, and set budgets in that project space.
Quota: The maximum value for the resources, actions, and items in your Azure account. Having sufficient quota is necessary to provision virtual machines, but does not guarantee on-demand virtual machine capacity at all times. Quota increases can be requested in the Azure portal. For details see Microsoft's Azure Quotas documentation.
RDP: Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol. Allows you to connect to a remote computer. The RDP client is used to deliver a Windows remote desktop session.
Shutdown Timer: A cost-saving feature that shuts down a resource after a period of inactivity.
Simultaneous Multithreading: A technology that allows a single physical processor core to behave like two logical processors, essentially allowing two independent threads to run in parallel. This enables more data to be processed in less time, improving performance and efficiency.
Slurm: Simple Linux Utility for Resource Management (SLURM). A cluster management and job scheduling system for Linux clusters.
SMB Storage: Network file sharing service on a Windows virtual machine. File sharing functionality is delivered using the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. Enables users to access files on a remote server.
Tags: Labels that can be applied to objects such as project spaces and resources to help administrators track ownership, usage, and so on.
Tenant Administrator: A user who is part of the Tenant Admin group in Azure. In Ansys Access on Microsoft Azure, a tenant administrator can create and manage project spaces, add and delete users, configure applications and cluster packages, and perform other top-level administrative tasks.
Tesla driver: A driver for NVIDIA GPUs which enables GPU computing.
VDI: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) technology enables you to run Cloud-hosted applications in a remote desktop session on your local computer.
Virtual Desktop: A virtual computer system that is accessed over the Internet. It has the functionality of a physical computer but is not tied to a physical machine. A virtual desktop looks and behaves just like a local desktop.
Virtual Machine: Virtual computer that acts like a physical computer. Used for computing or storage in Azure Cloud.
VM Size: Azure virtual machines (VMs) can be specified with different sizes. Each size is a specific combination of CPU, memory, storage, and networking capacity. You select a VM size when creating resources in Ansys Access on Microsoft Azure. For more information see Sizes for virtual machines in Azure in the Microsoft Azure documentation.
Virtual Network (VNet): A virtual networking environment in Azure which is dedicated to your Azure account. Azure virtual machines are launched into Virtual Networks (VNets). For more information refer to What is Azure Virtual Network in the Microsoft Azure documentation.