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ADE-XL: How to force individual result directories for each Monte Carlo point?

dontpanic

Hi! I am having an issue with the way ADE-XL (6.1.6-64b.500.11) is treating the results directories when running Monte Carlo simulations.

I have in my testbench a custom VA component that samples and dumps signals to the disk. For example, if I run a simulation in "Single run, sweeps and corners" mode with 3 corners, my dumped results are stored in the following directories and files:

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/Interactive.7/1/sch__noiseless/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/Interactive.7/2/sch__noiseless/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/Interactive.7/3/sch__noiseless/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv

The problem is when I switch to "Monte Carlo Sampling" mode. For instance, if I run 48 MC points for only 1 corner (and setting in my Job Setup options "Max. Jobs"=8), I see the following directories are being created:

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/1/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/1/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/7/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/7/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/13/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/13/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/19/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/19/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/25/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/25/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/31/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/31/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/37/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/37/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/43/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/43/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

So even though all the 48 MC points run without problems, ADE-XL is arranging/processing the results directories in a way that the files with the dumped signals are being overwritten, and in the end I am only left with 8 individual "vOUTdiff.csv" files (+8 old "vOUTdiff.csv~").

The root of the problem seems to be in the way the simulations are being launched, since in the individual spectre.out logs I see the warnings coming from my VA code messages about the files being overwritten (see attached excerpt below), and also that the MC points are being treated as "iterations".

How can I avoid this behavior, and force ADE-XL/spectre to keep the individual results directories for every MC point, while being able to run many MC points in parallel?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Cheers,

Jorge

  • dontpanic

    Thanks for the update on this issue, Andrew!
    I just  wanted to point out that the link mentioned in the new solution 20426366 ("How to Create a Unique File Name Using the MC Iteration Number"), instead of pointing to solution 20182976 ("How to pass the monte carlo trial (iteration) number to VerilogA module?"), points actually to solution 11353994 ("SKILL: Example of a new pull-down menu with a slider submenu")!

    Cheers,

    Jorge.

  • Andrew Beckett

    Thanks for pointing that out Jorge. Must have been a cut and paste mistake by the AE who wrote the article. Anyway, I've fixed it.

    Thanks again,

    Andrew

  • Frank Wiedmann

    CCR 1525056 has now been submitted asking to fix this remaining problem.

  • Andrew Beckett
    And I've already appended the CCR with a suggestion as to how it might be fixed...

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