Turns Engine PAR Multi-Tasking Option | Xilinx 8.2i specification

Turns Engine (PAR Multi-Tasking Option)

This Xilinx Development System option allows you to use multiple systems (nodes) that are networked together for a multi-run PAR job, significantly reducing the total amount of time to completion. You can specify this multi-tasking option from the command line.

Turns Engine Overview

Before the Turns Engine was developed for the Xilinx Development System, PAR could only run multiple jobs in a linear way. The total time required to complete PAR was equal to the sum of the times that it took for each of the PAR jobs to run. This is illustrated by the following PAR command.

par –ol high –n 10 mydesign.ncd output.dir

The preceding command tells PAR to run 10 place and route passes

(–n 10) at effort level high (–ol high). PAR runs each of the 10 jobs consecutively, generating an output NCD file for each job, (i.e., output.dir/high_high_1.ncd, output.dir/high_high_2.ncd, etc.). If each job takes approximately one hour, then the run takes approximately 10 hours.

The Turns Engine allows you to use multiple nodes at the same time, dramatically reducing the time required for all ten jobs. To do this you must first generate a file containing a list of the node names, one per line. The following example shows five nodes for running 10 jobs.

Note: A pound sign (#) in the example indicates a comment.

# NODE names
jupiter	#Fred’s node
mars	#Harry’s node
mercury	#Betty’s node
neptune	#Pam’s node
pluto	#Mickey’s node

Now run the job from the command line as follows:

par –m nodefile_name –ol high –n 10 mydesign.ncd output.dir

nodefile_name is the name of the node file you created.

This runs the following jobs on the nodes specified.

Table 9-6: Node Files

jupiter	par –ol high –i 10 –c 1 mydesign.ncd
	output.dir/high_high_1.ncd

mars	par –ol high –i 10 –c 1 mydesign.ncd
	output.dir/high_high_2.ncd

mercury	par –ol high –i 10 –c 1 mydesign.ncd
	output.dir/high_high_3.ncd

neptune	par –ol high –i 10 –c 1 mydesign.ncd
	output.dir/high_high_4.ncd

pluto	par –ol high –i 10 –c 1 mydesign.ncd
	output.dir/high_high_5.ncd

Development System Reference Guide

www.xilinx.com

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8.2i specifications

Xilinx 8.2i is a significant version of the Xilinx ISE (Integrated Software Environment) that emerged in the early 2000s, marking an important milestone in the world of FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) development. This version introduced a slew of advanced features, technologies, and characteristics that made it an indispensable tool for engineers and developers in designing, simulating, and implementing digital circuits.

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Xilinx 8.2i manual Turns Engine PAR Multi-Tasking Option, Turns Engine Overview

Models: 8.2i

Turns Engine (PAR Multi-Tasking Option)

Turns Engine (PAR Multi-Tasking Option)

Turns Engine Overview

par –m nodefile_name –ol high –n 10 mydesign.ncd output.dir

Table 9-6: Node Files

8.2i specifications