What Can You Do with a Model Manager Server?
A Model Manager database can be shared between multiple users by hosting the database in a Model Manager server. You access the database by connecting to the Model Manager server from the COMSOL Multiphysics software via your organization’s internal network. This enables you and your coworkers to collaborate on version-controlled simulation models and data files — all while staying within the COMSOL Desktop modeling environment. Read the Model Manager Reference Manual to learn more about what you can do with a Model Manager database accessed via a Model Manager server.
A Model Manager server database uses three separate server components:
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A relational database management system (RDBMS) for the version control management of simulation models and data files in a SQL database.
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A resources directory for storing binary and text data whose size is deemed too large to put directly inside the SQL database. This data can, for example, be built, computed, and plotted data generated by models, or auxiliary data such as CAD and interpolation data used as input by models.
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An enterprise search platform — the Apache Solr™ enterprise search platform — used for the search functionality of the Model Manager tool.
An installation of Model Manager server optionally includes the PostgreSQL® relational database management system and the Apache Solr™ enterprise search platform. Selecting to include these managed server components enables you to configure a Model Manager database without installing any additional software. Such a database can be fully managed by the Model Manager server itself, including starting and stopping component subprocesses and handling data backups. During installation, you can specify that a managed database with default configuration settings should be automatically created by the Model Manager server the first time the server starts. You are free to opt out of this automatic creation, however — a Model Manager database can always be set up at a later point once the Model Manager server is up and running.
A Model Manager server database can also use external server components provided and maintained by your organization. This includes using an external relational database management system for the SQL database — the supported platforms are Microsoft SQL Server®, MySQL®, Oracle® Database, and PostgreSQL®. Similarly, you can set up a Model Manager server database to use an external Apache Solr™ installation.
From the web interface of a Model Manager server, you can configure the server to use secure connections using transport layer security (TLS) provided via HTTPS, set up authentication mechanisms so that users can log in to the server via the COMSOL Multiphysics software or via a web browser, and perform other administrative tasks. You also access the web interface when you want to add or reconfigure your Model Manager server database. This includes, for example, modifying the locations on the file system where managed server components store your data. You can even configure multiple databases on the same Model Manager server using any combination of managed and external server components.
A Model Manager server also comes with a web-based asset management system that enables simulation engineers working in COMSOL Multiphysics to easily collaborate on simulation projects with people in your organization who may not have access to the COMSOL Multiphysics software. Via the asset management system, users can link models and data files to various documents, presentations, project notes, slides, and other supplementary files and metadata on so-called assets — all while keeping everything in the same database that stores the models and data files. Users can also browse and search the version-controlled models and data files themselves, as well as save new versions of them by uploading files from their local computer. This enables, for example, engineers working with other tools and software to update data via the web interface so that this data is immediately available to simulation engineers working in the COMSOL Desktop. Or, those same simulation engineers can publish results in the form of animations, images, plots, reports and other output via the asset management system simply by exporting such output to the Model Manager server from the COMSOL Desktop.