Getting Started
Learn how to get your first simulation run with Tramola.
Prerequisites
You need to have access to an installation of Tramola, e.g. by installing it yourself.
Mode of interaction
There are two major ways how you can have a MATSim run work with Tramola:
- Manage all scenario files in Tramola and starting runs directly from Tramola,
- or start a run on your own outside Tramola, but have the run report its data to Tramola.
The second way might be easier if you have already used MATSim and you have established a workflow to work with MATSim, as it allows you to keep most of your existing workflow as is and just augment it with additional functionality provided by Tramola (e.g. Run monitoring and reporting). But in this case, you cannot use any of the scenario features of Tramola (e.g. the scenario editor or config editor). To make full use of all Tramola features, you will need to use the first way outlined above, although it might result in bigger changes to your current MATSim workflow.
For both ways it is possible to either use a standard MATSim release or to use a custom MATSim build which also includes additional functionality like contribs or custom code. In either case, we suggest to include Tramola’s MATSim-integration to enable the best integration and all functionality.
Starting MATSim-Runs from Tramola
If you use a standard MATSim release to run your simulations, it is very simple to run it with Tramola: Create a scenario and start a run in Tramola
If you use a modified version of MATSim (i.e. including additional functionality of a contrib), you have two options on how to best run your simulations with MATSim.
If you don’t change your code very often, it is best to create a specific Job Template that uses your custom code: Create a scenario and start a run in Tramola with a custom Job Template. Note that you need administrative privileges to set this up.
If you change your MATSim code regularly, it might be best to just select the jar-file for execution when you schedule a job. This also requires a custom Job Template set up by an administrator, but allows for more easily changing the jar-file. Create a scenario and start a run in Tramola with an arbitrary jar-file.
Be aware of the security implications if you allow other users to upload custom jar-files to be used to execute runs. You essentially allow them to run arbitrary code on your server(s). Check the administrative guide on setting up runners for more details.
Starting MATSim-Runs yourself outside Tramola
If you already have a workflow to run your MATSim simulations and are only interested in the run-observation and analysis features of Tramola, you can integrate a small library into your MATSim code and start your simulations the way you always did. Thanks to the added library, the run will connect to Tramola and make sure, all data is uploaded at the end, so you can use all the analysis functionality.
If you use a standard MATSim version, you can use a small jar-file available from Tramola to start your simulations and immediately benefit from the integration into Tramola: Run a standard MATSim release with Tramola integration
If you use a customized MATSim version, you need to add a dependency to your code and enable the Tramola integration in your code to benefit from Tramola: Integrate Tramola into your MATSim code
Please note that for some variants (e.g. start a run from Tramola with custom MATSim code), Tramola needs to be configured accordingly to support this. This is due to security concerns as it will allow to run arbitrary untrusted code, which is disabled by default.