CATIA Operators Exchange

_________________________

CATIA V5 Administration

Performance Information and Tuning

By:

Bill Duke

IBM Corporation - Product Lifecycle Management Solutions

Process Interest Committees

Infrastructure Division

SYS – 1

Spring 2005 National Conference – March 20 – March 23 Phoenix, Arizona

 CATIA V5 Administration: Performance Information and Tuning

CATIA Version 5 Administration

Performance Information and Tuning
Bill Duke
IBM Corporation – Product Lifecycle Management Solutions

As the capabilities of the CATIA V5 code increases, the data files become
more complex and larger, yielding heavy performance demands on the
operating system. In order to obtain the best performance for CATIA, it is
important to understand CATIA’s hardware and software requirements,
CATIA’s threshold limitations in regards to data sizes, and some memory
management tuning methods for CATIA on the different operating systems.
This paper will provide the administrator information for understanding these
three areas that effect performance. It will also show some design
methodologies for use by the end user which yield additional performance
benefits. This paper will provide helpful information if you are responsible for
administering CATIA V5 and your users work on large CATIA data files.

Introduction
The administration of your CAD/CAM systems is an important part of the overall ability to
keep your workstations effective in your business. This paper covers some information dealing
with the performance of CATIA V5, with specific interests in memory management when
working with large data files.

This paper is intended for the administrator who wants to understand what affects CATIA V5’s
performance, and what can be done to improve it. Having CATIA run with the highest
performance available allows the end user to be most efficient.

This paper was written based on the knowledge and experience gained by working with
customer problems and questions documented at the IBM PLM Technical Support Center. It
provides information used to resolve memory allocation problems when working with large
data files.

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 CATIA V5 Administration: Performance Information and Tuning

Topics Covered

Since CATIA V5’s performance is affected by several items, this paper is split into four
sections to discuss the different areas.

The first section will discuss CATIA V5 Hardware and Software Requirements. One of the
most important items that affects performance is to run CATIA V5 on certified hardware and
ensure that the hardware and software requirements are met. This is important because if you
are trying to run CATIA V5 on a workstation that doesn’t meet the hardware and/or software
requirements, you may never obtain good performance or good results.

The second section is called Memory Management. It first provides information on memory
allocation and how CATIA uses it, and then discusses some of CATIA’s threshold limitations
with regards to data sizes.

After obtaining certified hardware and software, and after understanding memory management,
the next step is to understand the available options for tuning the operating system so that
additional performance benefits can be obtained when working with large CATIA data files.
This third section is called Workstation Tuning Opportunities.

The final section discusses techniques a CATIA V5 end user can use for improving the
performance through the use of some design methods. These methods can reduce the memory
load on the operating system, which will improve the overall performance. This section is
called Design Methodologies for Obtaining Additional Performance Benefits.

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Contents

I. CATIA V5 Hardware and Software Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Hardware Certification List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Graphic Adapter Driver Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Graphics Performance Optimizations (for IBM Workstations). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
HP-UX Performance Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Real Memory Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

II. Memory Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Definition of Memory Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Understanding System Memory Allocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
CATIA’s Threshold Limitations with Data Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

III. Workstation Tuning Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Memory Management Tuning Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
How to Increase the CATIA Memory Utilization on Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
How to Increase the CATIA Memory Utilization on AIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
How to Increase the CATIA Memory Utilization on HP-UX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
How to Activate the 64-bit Kernel in AIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

IV. Design Methodologies for Obtaining Additional Performance Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Methods of improving performance when managing Large Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Methodology for Drafting Large Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

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 CATIA V5 Administration: Performance Information and Tuning

I. CATIA V5 Hardware and Software Requirements

One of the most important items that affects performance is to run CATIA on certified
hardware and ensure that the hardware and software requirements are met. This is important
because if you are trying to run CATIA V5 on a workstation that doesn’t meet the hardware or
software requirements, you may never obtain good performance or good results.

Hardware Certification List

Dassault Systemes tests different hardware and maintains a Hardware Certification list of
hardware that they certify as being capable of running CATIA V5. Using hardware from the
certification list will result in the best optimized performance, support from hardware vendors
on the certified configurations, and support from Dassault Systems for CATIA V5 on the
certified configurations. Each workstation on the certification list specifies the workstation’s
model, its processor type and clock speed, its graphics adapter and driver level, and whether it
is certified or derived.

In addition to certified configurations, some configurations are also supported, although they
may not be specifically tested in Dassault Systemes. They are considered derived from certified
configurations. Derived configurations differ from certified configurations in that they have a
different clock speed, different disk, different network subsystems, or different memory
configurations. All other main subsystems must remain unchanged, such as processor model,
chipset and graphic adapter.

The list of Windows Certified and Derived hardware configurations can be found at the
Dassault Systemes maintained web site: http://www.catia.com/your_catia/html/hwnt2.htm

The list of UNIX Certified and Derived hardware configurations can be found at the Dassault
Systemes maintained web site: http://www.catia.com/your_catia/html/hwunix2.htm

Note: Some of the Windows workstations in the certification list show the use of the
Intel EM64T processor. This processor is Intel’s Extended Memory 64 Technology,
which is an enhancement to Intel’s IA-32 architecture. It allows the processor to run
newly written 64-bit code and access larger amounts of memory, yet remaining fully
compatible with existing 32-bit applications. At this time, the PLM Products only run in
32-bit mode on Windows, and don’t exploit the capabilities of this 64-bit EM64T
processor. The PLM Products will currently only run in 64-bit mode on AIX
workstations.

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Graphic Adapter Driver Level

For the Windows operating system, the Graphic Adapter Driver Level that has been certified
by Dassault Systemes is noted and is down-loadable from the Certified Hardware Web Site.
Running on a driver level other than what is in the list may yield unpredictable results. This is
true even with higher levels of the driver. Also, although CATIA V5 might run on other
graphic adapters or driver levels that are not in the hardware certification list, any problem
reports specific to these adapters or driver levels will not be accepted for support by Dassault
Systemes.

Graphics Performance Optimizations (for IBM Workstations)

For years, IBM has worked with the graphics card developers and Dassault Systemes to
incorporate graphics performance optimizations into CATIA V5. This has significantly
increased graphics performance when running CATIA V5 on an IBM Intellistation or
ThinkPad. Currently, IBM is the only vendor who runs certification tests with optimizations
enabled. For these optimizations to be enabled automatically, the Dassault Systemes CATIA
V5 certified graphics driver must be installed on your Intellistation or ThinkPad.

To further tune the operating system for CATIA V5 running on IBM Intellistations and
ThinkPads, IBM has created a series of documents that provide a step by step set of
instructions for fine tuning the graphics set up. These documents provide operating system
BIOS updates, graphics settings changes, and other information that will improve the graphics
performance specifically for CATIA V5.

These documents are available at:

ftp://ftp.pc.ibm.com/pub/intellistation/CATIA_V5_Setup_Docs.doc

A link to this document is also located on the IBM PLM Technical Support Web Page
(http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/engineering/support), under the System Requirements
section, called “Intellistation & ThinkPad”. A sample part of this document is shown in
Figure 1.

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 CATIA V5 Administration: Performance Information and Tuning

Figure 1 – Sample part of the Graphics Set-up Procedures for IBM Intellistation and ThinkPads

The detailed steps to use to optimize the graphics performance can be seen by selecting the
workstation/Graphics Adapter links. A sample part of one of these documents is shown in
Figure 2.

Figure 2 – Sample part of the Graphics Set-up Procedures for an IBM Intellistation

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HP-UX Performance Information

HP maintains a web page to specifically address information on configuring a HP-UX

workstation to get the best optimized performance for the IBM PLM products. This page
provides the information needed to tune a HP-UX workstation in the area of memory
management, graphics, and networking. This web page can be found at:
http://www.hp.com/workstations/segments/mcad/dassault/plmcc/unix_tuning.html

Also, to obtain the best performance when working on IBM PLM products on HP-UX
workstations, it is very important that the kernel parameters are correctly set. HP maintains a
web page to specifically address setting the HP-UX kernel parameters for the IBM PLM
products. This web page can be found at:
http://www.hp.com/workstations/segments/mcad/dassault/hpux/kl.html

Real Memory Requirements

Although the recommended minimum amount of real memory (RAM) required by CATIA V5
is noted in the Program Directories is 256MB, it also states that the requirements may be
greater when large amounts of data is used. When working with large assemblies, this has
proven to be very true. Having 2GB of real memory with 2GB of virtual memory (to provide
4GB of addressable memory) is recommended when working with assemblies over 100MB.

Software Requirements
Each of the operating systems that CATIA runs on has a specific list of requirements, which
includes the minimum operating system level, required operating system patches, and required
applications, libraries and files. This information is provided for each modification to CATIA
in the Program Directories under “CATIA Operating System Requirements” and “CATIA
Operating System Considerations”. The Program Directories are shipped with the CATIA
code, and can also be found on the IBM PLM Technical Support Web Site at:
http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/engineering/support

Also on the IBM PLM Technical Support Web Site, there is a list of the latest hardware and
software updates that may not be in the Program Directories. This list is located under the
Announcements section, by clicking on Platform.

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II. Memory Management

Definition of System Memory Terms

System memory terms are commonly misunderstood, which sometimes causes the system
memory to be setup incorrectly. There are three memory terms that are used throughout this
document. In order to clarify their differences, their definitions are shown below:

Real Memory: This is the physical piece of hardware in the workstation that is also
called RAM or physical memory. It is not hard disk space, and is not
the memory located on the Graphics Adapters.

Virtual Memory: This is a parameter set on the operating system that defines a hidden
file or space on the hard disk with a pre-allocated specified size. The
operating system uses this space as though it was real memory. It is
also known as a pagefile, paging space or swap space, depending on
the operating system. Filling up the hard disk with data files does not
impact this file/space as its size is pre-allocated.

Addressable Memory: This is the combination of real memory and virtual memory in a
workstation. This combination provides addressable (usable) memory
for use by the kernel and for the applications.

Understanding Memory Allocation

It is the amount of addressable memory that affects the performance of an application by

providing space for the application to read in data and perform the computations. The CATIA
V5 application puts high demands on the addressable memory of a workstation due to large
data sizes along with complex graphics computations.

A 32-bit computer can theoretically address a maximum of 232 = 4,294,967,296 bytes or 4GB
of memory. Most applications on an operating systems can use an addressable amount of
memory less than 4GB, typically between 2 and 3GB. For CATIA, the theoretical maximum
addressable memory is 3GB.

When we look at a 64-bit computer, it can theoretically address a maximum of 264 =

18,446,744,073,709,551,616 bytes or 18EB (Exabyte) which today is considered practically
unlimited addressable memory.

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In V5R14, the IBM PLM Products are just starting to run on the 64-bit architecture. The 64-bit
architecture provides significant performance enhancements to users of CATIA Structural
Analysis, ENOVIA DMU Navigator, ENOVIA Real Time Rendering and ENOVIA DMU
Space Analysis.

Currently, the above four IBM PLM 64-bit products can only run on the AIX 5L operating
system on supported IBM pSeries and IntelliStation Power workstations.

The remainder of this document mostly focuses on 32-bit workstations since this is the
prevelent architecture being used. Activating the 64-bit kernel in AIX will be discussed later in
the tuning section of this document.

CATIA’s Threshold Limitations with Data Sizes

Knowing that there is a set amount of memory in a workstation that can be addressed by an
application (like CATIA V5), there are threshold limitations that need to be understood and
managed.

When working with CATIA V5 data files, there are typically no memory allocation problems
working on a single CATPart, but when they get grouped together into an assembly
(CATProduct), the size and complexity can skyrocket, causing some limitations to be reached.
Once reached, the assembly may be so large that you can no longer load the assembly in design
mode, you can not create drafting views, or you can not save the assembly.

The assembly size is made up of several components, such as the amount of data referenced by
the assembly, the number of levels of assemblies, the number of constraints used in the
assembly, and the amount of addressable memory needed to visualize or perform a save
operation. The largest contributor to an assembly’s size is the number of levels within the
assembly and/or the number of constraints.

As a general rule of thumb, assemblies over 80MB will require Windows XP rather than
Windows 2000. Assemblies over 100MB will require the tuning of Windows XP to allocate
3GB of addressable memory (discussed in the section “How to Increase the CATIA Memory
Utilization on Windows XP”), and assemblies over 200MB will require the creation of
simplified assemblies (discussed in the section called “Design Methodologies for Obtaining
Additional Performance Benefits”).

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III. Workstation Tuning Opportunities

Memory Management Tuning Opportunities

Each operating system that CATIA V5 runs on has a per-process address limit on addressable
memory, and they vary for the different operating systems.

When the data size gets too large for the addressable memory to handle, CATIA hangs and
crashes. This can occur when performing functions that require a lot of graphic computations
(like creating a section).

Some of the operating systems can be tuned to allow applications to allocate more addressable
memory than the operating system default. The chart shown in Figure 3 shows the different
operating systems that CATIA V5 runs on, and their Default and Advanced Memory
Allocation:

Operating Default Allocated Advanced

System Allocation for: Allocation
* Windows XP 2 GB Data + Code 3 GB
Windows 2000 2 GB Data + Code --
* AIX 1 GB Data 2 GB
* HP-UX 3 GB Data (2 GB) + Data (3 GB) +
Code (1 GB) Code (1GB)
IRIX 2 GB Data + Code --
Solaris 4 GB Data + Code --

Figure 3 – Operating System Default & Advanced Memory Allocations

* If you run CATIA V5 on Windows XP, IBM’s AIX or HP’s HP-UX, and you work with
large data files, you should consider tuning the memory allocation to allow applications to take
advantage of additional addressable memory.

There is information in the CATIA V5 Program Directory under CATIA Operating System
Considerations that discusses the advanced allocation methods. The following sections were
compiled to provide further details for each of the operating systems.

Notes on using the Higher Memory Allocation:

Making the changes to any of the three operating systems, allows CATIA to allocate additional
addressable memory. This is accomplished by reducing the addressable memory allocated to
the kernel and providing it for use to the application.

Take Caution: This is a trade off!

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If you are working with large CATIA data files, you may need to implement these memory
allocation changes, but you should be aware that you may not be able to run other memory-
intensive applications on the workstation at the same time with CATIA V5.

To summarize, if you are not having memory allocation problems, don’t implement these
changes. If you are having memory allocation problems, implement the changes, but use
the workstation primarily for CATIA.

How to Increase the CATIA Memory Utilization on Windows XP

By default, CATIA V5 processes on Windows can allocate up to 2GB of addressable memory
for storing data and code. The 4GB address space offered by the operating system is split into
two areas of 2GB each. The first 2GB is used for user applications, and the other 2GB is
reserved for use by the kernel. On Windows XP, it is possible to tune the operating system to
increase the default allocation capabilities up to 3GB (3GB for user applications, and 1GB
reserved for use by the kernel).

There are two steps required to set up a workstation so CATIA can address more than the
default 2GB of addressable memory. The first step deals with an Operating System
modification, and the second step requires a CATIA change.

For additional information, there is a Microsoft article titled “Information on Application Use
of 4GT RAM Tuning" which is found at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q171793

and an article titled "Memory Support and Windows Operating Systems" which is found at:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx

Modifying the Operating System

Windows XP Professional is the only Windows level that can be modified, as Windows 2000
Professional cannot use this modification.

The BOOT.INI file needs to be modified to activate the modified memory allocation.
Modification of the BOOT.INI file requires administrative privileges.

The Program Directory states that the BOOT.INI file can be modified by using the bootcfg.exe
(delivered with Windows XP) or by editing the BOOT.INI file by first modifying the files
attributes to allow you to edit and save the changes, but both of these methods aren’t the easiest
method.

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For the easiest method to modify the BOOT.INI file, go to Start - Control Panel, select the
System icon, to see the “System Properties” window shown in Figure 4, and then go to the
Advanced Tab.

Figure 4 – Windows XP System Properties

Select the Settings button under the “Startup and Recovery” section, and the “Startup and
Recovery” window opens as shown in Figure 5.

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Figure 5 – Windows XP Startup and Recovery

Finally, select the Edit button under “System startup”. This opens the BOOT.INI file in edit
mode with the notepad editor as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6 – Windows XP default BOOT.INI file

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Prior to modifying the BOOT.INI file, save it with another name for backup purposes (such as
BOOT.INI.original). Improper modification of the BOOT.INI file can cause the operating
system to be inoperable. Also, in the Startup and Recovery Window (shown in Figure 5), don’t
leave a zero timeout value, so that you will have a method to switch between the regular boot
and the /3GB option. This allows you a method to switch between the different boot methods,
in case of errors or if the /3GB switch is not needed.

Edit the BOOT.INI file and add the following line:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3GB" /fastdetect /3GB

after the line [operating system]

or
after the line
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

The location of this line in the file determines which is the default boot method. In the example
shown in Figure 7, the /3GB Switch was placed after the line [Operating System]. Since it is
the first in the sequence, it is the system boot default.

Figure 7 – Windows XP modified BOOT.INI file

After making the modification to the file, use File – Save, to save the changes.

After the BOOT.INI file has been updated, you should also check to make sure that the Paging
Space (Virtual Memory) is sized correctly. To do this, go to the Control Panel, System icon,
Advanced Tab, select the Settings button under Performance, select the Advanced Tab to
access the Performance Options Window as shown in Figure 8.

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Figure 8 – Windows XP Performance Options

The paging file size under “Virtual Memory” should be set based on the amount of real
memory installed on the workstation. The rule of thumb is to adjust the virtual memory so the
addressable memory (real + virtual) is set to 4GB (since in a 32-bit workstation, the theoretical
amount of addressable memory is 4GB as discussed earlier in this document).

For example, a workstation with 2GB of RAM (real memory) should have the virtual memory
paging file size set to 2048 MB (2GB), or a workstation with 1GB of RAM (real memory)
should have the virtual memory paging file size set to 3072MB (3GB).

If the paging file size is too small, information will be paged more frequently between the
RAM and disk, resulting in degraded system performance. If the paging file size is set too
large, you are wasting hard disk space. The maximum size of the paging file that is allowed on
Windows 2000 is 4095 MB and is 4096MB for Windows XP.

The workstation needs to be re-booted for the changes to take place. During the boot, you can
choose to boot with the /3GB switch (which will be the default in the example above) or back
to the system default (of 2GB).

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Note that there are 3 possible problems that could occur with the /3GB switch enabled, which
are corrected by Windows patches:

• If you have SP1 installed on Windows XP, the system will probably fail to boot with
the /3GB switch. You may also receive an error message that states that one of the
registry hives is corrupted. This problem is fixed in SP2 and by installing fix Q328269
on SP1 as documented in the Microsoft Article “Windows XP SP1 May Not Start with
the /3GB or /USERVA Switch", found at their Web Site:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;328269

• Some drivers may not load correctly when /3GB switch is added to BOOT.INI. If this
occurs, apply Service Pack 1 on Windows XP, and tune /3GB configurations with
/USERVA switch in boot.ini file. See Microsoft’s Article “Driver May Not Be Loaded
with the /3GB Switch” found at their Web Site:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q319043

• If you have SP2 installed on Windows XP, the support of the /3GB option requires the
Microsoft fix KB890048, which can be obtained form Microsoft on demand.

Modifying CATIA

To allow CATIA to take advantage of 3GB of address space, the following needs to be
performed for each level of CATIA installed as well as with any Service Pack updates:

Locate and make a backup copy of the CNEXT.exe file (the default location for CATIA
V5R14 is in the directory C:\Program Files\Dassault Systemes\B14\ intel_a\code\bin).

Execute the imagecfg.exe on the CNEXT.exe by opening a DOS window in the directory
where the imagecfg.exe is located. Then run the following command:

imagecfg.exe –l “C:\Program Files\Dassault Systemes\B14\ intel_a\code\bin\CNEXT.exe”

This should result in the following output, which shows the change has been made:

CNEXT.exe contains the following configuration information:

Subsystem Version of 4.0
Stack Reserve Size: 0x100000
Stack Commit Size: 0x1000
CNEXT.exe updated with the following configuration information:
CNEXT.exe contains the following configuration information:
Subsystem Version of 4.0
Image can handle large (>2GB) addresses
Stack Reserve Size: 0x100000
Stack Commit Size: 0x1000

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Note: If you have access to Microsoft Visual Studio 6 Development Environment, you can use
the editbin.exe as an alternative to imagecfg.exe. The default location of the editbin.exe is
located in the directory C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\bin. To use it to
modify the CNEXT.exe, run the following command:

editbin.exe /LARGEADDRESSAWARE “C:\Program Files\Dassault Systemes\B14\

intel_a\code\bin\CNEXT.exe”

How to Increase the CATIA Memory Utilization on AIX

By default, CATIA V5 processes on AIX can allocate up to 1GB of addressable memory for
allocating data. It is possible to increase the default data allocation capabilities up to 2GB by
making a modification to Operating System and a change to CATIA.

Modifying the Operating System

To allow CATIA to access more than the default 1GB of addressable memory for allocating
data, the X server must be configured to use extended shared memory.

As the root user, edit the file /usr/lpp/X11/defaults/xserverrc by adding the following 2 lines
just before the line that says EXTENSIONS=" "

EXTSHM=ON
export EXTSHM

You must log off AIX to restart the X server, for this change to take effect. To restart the X
server, at the CDE login screen, select Options, and then Reset Login Screen.

Modifying CATIA

On AIX, in order for CATIA to use more than the default 1GB of addressable memory for
data, an environment variable called V5MEM needs to be used. This variable controls the
number of 256MB segments of addressable memory that V5 CATIA can allocate. It can be
assigned a value from 5 to 8, where setting it to 5 will give access to 1.25GB, and 8 will give
access to 2.0GB.

By default, the V5MEM environment variable is not set, and CATIA is able to allocate up to
1GB of addressable memory.

As the root user, this variable can be added to the CATIA V5 Environment file by using the
CATIA V5 Environment Editor which is started by issuing the following command:

/usr/DassaultSystemes/B14/aix_a/code/command/catstart –run CATIAENV

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Special AIX Considerations

If using AIX 5.2 ML02 running the 64-bit kernel, V5 CATIA is able to allocate up to 2.25GB
of addressable memory for data if you use the following customization:

Install AIX patch provided by APAR IY53656.

Start CATIA using the following command inputs:

export V5MEM=8
/usr/DassaultSystemes/B14/aix_a/code/command/catstart -run ksh
export LDR_CNTRL=PREREAD_@MAXDATA=0xD0000000@DSA
export MW_GMA_VADDR to 0xD8000000
export DISPLAY=<hostname>:0
export EXTSHM=ON
CNEXT

If running V5 CATIA in a Japanese Environment on AIX 5.1, you need to install the AIX
patch provided by APAR IY31016.

If the workstation’s graphics adapter is either a GXT4000P or a GXT6000P, you must install
the AIX patch provided by APAR IY18593. Without this patch installed, the X server will fail
to start if EXTSHM=ON is set in the xserverrc file.

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How to Increase the CATIA Memory Utilization on HP-UX

By default, CATIA V5 processes on HP-UX can allocate up to approximately 2 GB of

addressable memory for storing data. The 4 GB address space available on the operating
system is split into 4 quadrants of 1 GB each. Most of first 2 quadrants are reserved for private
data allocations (for application use), and most of last 2 quadrants are reserved for shared
objects (for kernel use). It is possible to increase the default data allocation capabilities up to
approximately 3GB, leaving 1GB for shared objects by making a modification to Operating
System and a change to CATIA.

Modifying the Operating System

The maxdsiz kernel parameter should be set to 0xC0000000 (to allocate 3GB of data) as the
root user through sam or the kmtune utilities as maxdsiz controls the amount of private data
each process can utilize.

The amount of swap space should be sized based on the amount of real memory installed on
the workstation. The rule of thumb is the swap space should be about 2 times the amount of
real memory installed. If you increase the swap space, you will be required to increase the
maxswapchunks kernel parameter as the root user through sam or the kmtune utilities.

If running in the POSIX shell (/usr/bin/sh) make sure that ulimit data parameter is set to
unlimited.

Modifying CATIA

Starting in CATIA V5R14, no changes are required because the CNEXT executable is already
setup to enable the use of the third quadrant. For CATIA V5R13 and V5R12, the CNEXT
executable needs to be enabled for use of third quadrant for private data.

To enable or disable the CNEXT executable for use of third quadrant for private data, as the
root user, use the chatr command.

First make a backup of the CNEXT script to allow the option of returning to the default setup.
The default location for the CNEXT script for CATIA V5R13 is in the directory
/usr/DassaultSystemes/B13/hpux_b/code/bin.

Next, change the permissions of the CNEXT script to add write access:
chmod +w CNEXT

To enable the CNEXT executable for use of third quadrant for private data, run the following
chatr command on the CNEXT executable. Note: These steps must be performed for each level
of CATIA installed as well as with any Service Pack updates:
chatr +q3p enable CNEXT

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The output of the above command will look similar to :

...
lazy swap allocation disabled
text segment locking disabled
data segment locking disabled
third quadrant private data space enabled
fourth quadrant private data space disabled
third quadrant global data space disabled
data page size: 1M
instruction page size: 1M
nulptr references disabled
shared library private mapping disabled
shared library text merging disabled

To disable the CNEXT executable for use of third quadrant for private data, run the following
chatr command on the CNEXT executable:
chatr +q3p disable CNEXT

The output of the above command will look similar to :

...
lazy swap allocation disabled
text segment locking disabled
data segment locking disabled
third quadrant private data space disabled
fourth quadrant private data space disabled
third quadrant global data space disabled
data page size: 1M
instruction page size: 1M
nulptr references disabled
shared library private mapping disabled
shared library text merging disabled

After running the chatr command, reset the permissions on the CNEXT script back to original
permissions:
chmod -w CNEXT

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How to Activate the 64-bit Kernel in AIX

If you are using IBM’s pSeries or Intellistation Power hardware that supports 64-bit, and you
are running AIX 5L, you are running on a true 64-bit operating environment.

To see if the environment is setup to enable 64-bit application support, run the following
command to verify that the system kernels are available on the system:

cd /usr/lib/boot
ls -la

If the unix_64 file is listed, the system can be switched to enable 64-bit operating support. Also
in this list, check to see where the symbolic link for unix points to. If it points to
/usr/lib/boot/unix_64 and in the root directory /, then the system is already running in 64-bit
mode. If it is pointing to something else, make note of what it is, in case you want to return to
the default setting later.

The results of the command bootinfo –K will also return the value 32 or 64, specifying the
environment that is enabled.

To switch the AIX kernel to the 64-bit mode, run the following commands as the root user:

cd /
ln –fs /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 unix
cd /usr/lib/boot
ln –fs /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 unix
bosboot –ad /dev/ipldevice
sync; sync; sync
shutdown –Fr

To reactivate the 32-bit AIX environment, reverse the previous commands so the unix links
points to the original files as follows:

cd /
ln –fs /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 “original file”
cd /usr/lib/boot
ln –fs /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 “original file”
bosboot –ad /dev/ipldevice
sync; sync; sync
shutdown –Fr

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IV. Design Methodologies for Obtaining Additional Performance Benefits

Methods of improving performance when managing Large Assemblies

There are several items that the CATIA end user can change to improve performance when
working with large assemblies. Some of these changes deal with improving the performance of
local transformation (rotation, moving, and zooming), some deal with reducing the time to
open an assembly, and others deal with ways of reducing the addressable memory usage to
obtain better overall performance when working with the large assemblies.

Each of these methods is a trade off: in order to obtain better performance, the user will need to
reduce what is seen on the display, change the way saving is done, and change the way of
working with the overall large assembly.

Some of these changes can be achieved by making some changes under CATIA’s Tools –
Options, while others are done interactively with some contextual menu changes and other
selections.

The following examples show some of the changes that the end user could do to improve
performance when working on large assemblies. For detailed information on each of these
items, the user should consult the CATIA online documentation.

Examples of Interactive Changes

• Use Visualization mode to improve loading time and decrease addressable memory
usage. When parts are displayed in Visualization Mode, just a subset of the data is
loaded in memory. The remaining data is loaded when needed. Switch to design mode
only the parts to be edited or needed for constraint creation.
• Select the option “Do not activate default shape on open” prior to opening an assembly.
This reduces unneeded information in no-show space, and improves performance. This
option should be used in combination with the Visualization mode to further improve
performance.
• Removing the edges when shading improves display performance.
• Create Selection Sets to manage working configurations such as multi-selecting
components to be activated.

Examples of Tools – Options Changes

• Lowering the level of detail displayed on the screen will improve local transformation.
This is done by increasing the setting values of the “Level of Detail” and “Pixel
Culling” for “While Moving”, so that less data is displayed while moving.
• Decrease the Undo Stack. By default, the last 10 interactions can be undone at any time.
But, this option uses a lot of addressable memory. By decreasing the Undo Stack Size
to 2, addressable memory is freed up to allow the loading of larger assemblies.

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• Activating the use of Cache optimizes the use of Visualization Mode by reducing
addressable memory usage and the time to open the assembly.
• Disable the Automatic Save. Automatic Save enables the recovery of a user’s work in
case of a CATIA crash, but in most cases, assemblies cannot be recovered after a crash.
Since automatic saves can take almost a minute for very large assemblies, disabling this
option will eliminate CATIA hangs every 30 minutes or so.
• Open assemblies with every component deactivated, and activate only the
representation of the part needed for design. This will improve local transformation
performance and reduce addressable memory usage.

Methodology for Drafting Large Assemblies

There are many different techniques that can be employed to improve the performance when
working with the drafting of large assemblies. Simply put, use smart drafting techniques to
generate in drafting only what is needed for the views. This will keep the data size down,
which yields the best performance. If the smart drafting techniques aren’t sufficient, the
assemblies should be simplified using the Convert Product to CATPart function. The following
two sections show some of the smart drafting techniques and discusses simplified assemblies.

Examples of Smart Drafting Techniques for Large Assemblies

• Limit the number of scenes to the minimum number necessary to convey the
visualization of the assembly. Each scene created substantially increases the size of the
CATProduct.
• Create Raster-generated views as images. This allows the user to quickly generate
overall views for large assemblies that can be opened in visualization mode. Although
there are restrictions on generating raster views, when used, they reduces data size and
improve addressable memory usage.
• Manually manage which elements are shown in the assembly, before generating the
views. Anything that shouldn’t be seen in the view should not be visible in the
assembly.
• Create views by multi-selecting only the nodes in the tree of the elements intended to
be seen in the drawing, not the entire assembly.

Simplified Assemblies

A simplified assembly is created when the contents of an assembly are merged into one or
more CATParts and then reassembled into a new CATProduct. The selected components of the
original CATProduct(s) are converted into individual bodies within the CATParts. Assemblies
over 200MB should be considered for the creation of simplified assemblies. Assemblies should
be simplified using the Convert Product to CATPart function if the smart drafting techniques
are not sufficient. Simplifying assemblies is best done after the design is nearly completed and
ready for detailing. This technique is not intended to be used during the stages of the design
when changes often occur because manual synchronization of the original data is required if
there is a change.

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Conclusion
The ability to keep your company’s CAD/CAM systems properly administered is an important
part of your business. Learning how to make CATIA V5 run with the best performance
possible allows the end users to be most effective. This paper provides information that will
contribute to your knowledge of CATIA V5 Administration, and will also give some useful
information on improving the performance of CATIA.

It can be seen in this paper that there are several items that affect the performance of CATIA
V5. It starts with a having certified hardware as a base for running CATIA, along with meeting
the necessary operating system requirements for hardware and software. Next is understanding
memory management so it will be possible to tune some of the operating systems to allow
CATIA to work on large data files. After obtaining the required hardware and software and
tuning the operating system, additional performance benefits can be obtained through use of
improved design methods by the CATIA end users. These techniques can reduce the
addressable memory load on the operating system, which will improve the overall
performance.

Author:
BILL DUKE… is a member of the IBM PLM Technical Support Team with twenty-four years of experience
working on CAD/CAM systems at IBM. He initially worked in Manufacturing Engineer on mechanical designs
using CADAM, GDP and CATIA, and has been a part of the support team for the last ten years. Bill is currently
the Team Lead of the Administration Support Team and is the System Administrator of the Support Center
Laboratory. Bill continues to develop and share expertise in these areas with both authorship and presentations at
COE on these topics. Duke earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University. Bill can be
reached at billduke@us.ibm.com.

® CATIA is a registered trademark of Dassault Systemes.

® AIX is a registered trademark of the IBM Corporation.
® HP-UX is a registered trademark of the Hewlett Packard Corporation.
® Windows XP and Windows 2000 are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation.
® Solaris is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems.
® IRIX is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc.

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