System Requirements - 5.2a COMSOL Server™

These requirements are common to all platforms:

  • A working network card and internet connection is recommended during installation.
  • At least 1 GB memory, but 4 GB or more per processor core is recommended.
  • 1-5 GB of disk space, depending on your licensed products and installation options.
  • Adobe Acrobat® Reader 10.1.9, 11.0.06, or later to view and print the COMSOL® documentation in PDF format.

COMSOL Server License (CSL)

The COMSOL Server license type is a networked license type and is supported on a heterogeneous network of computers running any of the Windows®, Linux®, and OS X operating systems. Both the license manager and the COMSOL Server software can run on either Windows®, Linux®, or OS X, and a single computer can run both of them.

Academic Server License (ASL)

System requirements for the Academic Server License type are similar to that of the COMSOL Server License type.

Operating System Requirements

In addition to the operating system requirements listed below, see the Interfacing Product Suite Requirements for specific requirements for the CAD Import Module, the Design Module, and the LiveLink™ product suite.

Windows® macOS Linux®
64-Bit Operating Systems
  • Windows® 10
  • Windows® 8.1
  • Windows® 8
  • Windows® 7
  • Windows Server® 2016
  • Windows Server® 2012 R2
  • Windows Server® 2012
  • Windows Server® 2008 R2
  • Windows Server® 2008
  • Windows HPC Server 2008 R2
  • Windows HPC Server 2008
  • Windows Vista®
Mac OS X 10.7 and OS X 10.8, 10.9, 10.10, 10.11, and macOS 10.12
  • Debian® 7.0 and 8.0
  • Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 51, 6, and 7
  • Ubuntu® 12.04 LTS, 14.04 LTS, and 16.04 LTS
  • OpenSUSE® 13.2 and OpenSUSE® Leap 42.1

1 Only supported for server, batch, and cluster operation.

OS Specific System Requirements

Linux®
  • GNU C Library version 2.7 or later1.
  • Linux® kernel 2.6.18 or later.
  • Intel® Pentium® IV or AMD Athlon® XP processor or later.
  • FlexNet® requires Linux Standard Base (LSB).

1 If you have an older version of libstdc++ than 6.0.9, you may need to start COMSOL® with the option -forcegcc.

Graphics System Requirements

COMSOL Server™ does not require graphics rendering. To use the COMSOL Server™ web interface, log in using the COMSOL Client for Windows® or a recommended web browser, see Running COMSOL Applications. COMSOL Server™ can also be used in batch mode, for which no graphics rendering is required.

Parallel System Requirements *

Windows® macOS Linux®
Shared-Memory Parallelism All supported versions of Windows® All supported versions of Mac OS X All supported Linux® Distributions
Distributed-Memory Parallelism
  • Windows Server® 2012 R2
  • Windows Server® 2012
  • Windows HPC Server 2008 R2
  • Windows HPC Server 2008
Not Supported
  • Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 5, 6, and 7
  • Debian® 7 and 8
  • Ubuntu® 12.04 and Ubuntu® 14.041

All computers in the cluster must use the same Linux® version and should have similar hardware. It is recommended that OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED) 1.5.4.1 or higher is installed. If you are using RDMA-capable network fabrics, a DAPL 1.2 or later version-compliant driver or library is required. The software is usually provided with your hardware.

1 For distributed parallelism using shared memory on Ubuntu® 14.04 LTS and 16.04 LTS, set the environment variable I_MPI_SHM_LMT to shm.

* COMSOL is a proud member of the Intel® Cluster Ready program and certifies COMSOL Multiphysics® with every new version. View Certificate. The certification process ensures that COMSOL Multiphysics® will seamlessly work for parallel processing and cluster modeling on any hardware that has also been certified as being Intel® Cluster Ready.

Intel Cluster Ready
Intel, Intel Cluster Ready, and the Intel Cluster Ready text treatment are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

NOTE: This information is provided for your benefit but should not be used as a substitute for your own investigation of the system requirements that may be appropriate for your use of COMSOL® software or other software, given your particular circumstances. Systems and hardware change regularly, which may impact any determination of what system requirements are appropriate for you.