ipedrojm/creams repository overview

⁠Installation guidelines

Docker containers enable binaries compiled on a given Linux environment to be run on other platforms without any performance degradation. Docker allows you to run CREAMS in any OS, without having to install it: simply download this precompiled code ready to be run out of the box!

Please follow these installation guidelines carefully in order to get the latest version of CREAMS.

1. Installation of docker

• Windows/macOS users to install docker from here⁠ (if you are using an old version of Windows/macOS which is incompatible with docker, please install the Docker Toolbox from here⁠). Download the corresponding installer and execute it like any other traditional Windows/macOS program (additional Windows installation instructions can be found here⁠ while additional macOS installations instructions can be found here⁠).
• Linux users to run the command:

sudo apt install docker.io

1. Running docker

• Windows/macOS users to lunch a new docker terminal as suggested at the end of the installation process.
• Linux users to start the docker daemon:

sudo service docker start

1. Download the CREAMS image

Download the latest version of wsiFoam with the following command:

docker create -ti --name creamscontainer -v ${1:-$HOME}/shared:/home/docker/shared ipedrojm/creams:latest

This will take some time depending on your internet connection (it will download 720MB approximately). This command needs to be executed only once and will download a docker image, which cannot be modified.

1. Start the CREAMS container

Contrarily to docker images, docker containers can be modified. This container will be used to make changes, compile new code, run simulations, etc. Run the CREAMS container based on the previous image by typing the following command:

docker stop creamscontainer && docker start -i creamscontainer

The docker terminal will automatically switch into an Ubuntu terminal. A greeting message will be displayed indicating the documentation and examples available to run CREAMS.

In future iterations simply lunch a docker terminal and start the CREAMS container by typing the command specified in this section.

1. About shared volumes

The directory /home/docker/shared is shared between the docker container and your OS. This means that any files and folders within that directory can be seen inside and outside the container allowing ParaView to access them. This is a great feature but it can compromise docker's performance in cases involving intensive I/O operations, e.g. running simulations.

In order to avoid this, please run simulations outside the shared directory /home/docker/shared even though the data will not be accessible from your OS. Once the simulation has finished, the data can be quickly moved to the shared directory and visualised with ParaView.