Watch The Webinar and Setup Tutorial

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/7790172234808601356

Get Your Tools

Install Docker (Mac): https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-mac/install/; (Windows): https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-windows/install/

• Important: In Docker, go into Docker > Preferences > Resources and up the allocation for disk size image for Docker. 16 GB is recommended for smaller (state level) databasese. 32 GB is recommended for ISO specific databases. 70+GB is required for restoring the national level database. If you get a memory issue then you'll need to up the memory allocation and or will need to prune past failed images/volumes. Running the below docker commands will clear these out and let you start fresh:

   $ docker system prune -a 
   $ docker volume prune -f

• Refer to Docker’s website for more details on this.

Install Anaconda Python 3.7 Version: https://www.anaconda.com/distribution/

Install PgAdmin: https://www.pgadmin.org/download/ (ignore all of the options for docker, python, os host, etc.)

Install Git: If you don't already have git installed, then navigate here to install it for your operating system: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/install-git

Windows users: if you don't have UNIX commands enabled for command prompt/powershell then you'll need to install Cygwin or QEMU to run a UNIX terminal.

Download Code

New users should fork a copy of dGen to their own private github account

Next, clone the forked repository to your local machine by running the following in a terminal/powershell/command prompt:

   $ git clone https://github.com/<github_username>/dgen.git

• Create a new branch in this repository by running git checkout -b <branch_name_here>
• It is generally a good practice to leave the master branch of a forked repository unchanged for easier updating in future. Create new branches when developing features or performing configurations for unique runs.

Running and Configuring dGen

A. Create Environment

After cloning this repository and installing (and running) Docker as well as Anaconda, we'll create our environment and container:

1. Depending on directory you cloned this repo into, navigate in terminal to the python directory (/../dgen/python) and run the following command:

   $ conda env create -f dg3n.yml

• This will create the conda environment needed to run the dgen model.

2. This command will create a container with PostgreSQL initialized.

   $ docker run --name postgis_1 -p 5432:5432 -e POSTGRES_USER=postgres -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres -d mdillon/postgis

• Alternatively, if having issues connecting to the postgres server in pgAdmin, run:

   $ docker run --name postgis_1 -p 5432 -e POSTGRES_USER=postgres -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres -d mdillon/postgis

• This will allow the docker container to select a different port to forward to 5432.

3. Connect to our postgresql DB. In the command line run the following:

   $ docker container ls
   $ docker exec -it <container id> psql -U postgres
   $ postgres=# CREATE DATABASE dgen_db;

• If you get the error psql: FATAL: the database system is starting up try rerunning the docker exec command again after a minute or so because docker can take some time to initialize everything.

• CREATE DATABASE will be printed when the database is created. \l will display the databases in your server.

• Postgres=# \c dgen_db can then be used to connect to the database in terminal, but this step isn't necessary.

B. Download data (agents and database):

Download data by navigating to https://data.openei.org/submissions/1931 and clicking the 'model inputs' tab. Make sure to unzip any zipped files once downloaded. Note, the 13.5 GB dgen_db.sql.zip file contains all of the data for national level runs. We recommend starting with the database specific to the state or ISO region you're interested in.

For example, if you want to simulate only California then navigate to the 'ca_final_db' folder and download the dgen_db.sql file.

You will also need to download and unzip the agent files "OS_dGen_Agents.zip", making sure the use the correct agent file corresponding to the scenario you'd like to run (e.g. commercial agents for California).

Next, run the following in the command line (replacing 'path_to_where_you_saved_database_file' below with the actual path where you saved your database file):

   $ cat /path_to_where_you_saved_data/dgen_db.sql | docker exec -i <container id> psql -U postgres -d dgen_db

• Note, if on a Windows machine, use Powershell rather than command prompt. If linux commands still aren't working in Powershell, you can copy the data to the docker container and then load the data by running:

   $ docker cp /path_to_where_you_saved_data/dgen_db.sql <container id>:/dgen_db.sql
   $ docker exec -i <container id> psql -U postgres -d dgen_db -f dgen_db.sql

• Backing up state/ISO databases will likely take 5-15 minutes. The national database will take 45-60 minutes.
• Don't close docker at any point while running dGen.
• The container can be "paused" by running $ docker stop <container id> and "started" by running $ docker start <container id>

C. Create Local Server:

Once the database is restored (it will take 45-60 minutes), open PgAdmin and create a new server. Name this whatever you want. Write "localhost" (or 127.0.0.1) in the host/address cell and "postgres" in both the username and password cells. Upon refreshing this and opening the database dropdown, you should be able to see your database.

D: Activate Environment

Activate the dg3n environment and launch spyder by opening a new terminal window and run the following command:

   $ conda activate dg3n
   $ (dg3n) spyder

• In spyder, open the dgen_model.py file. This is what we will run once everything is configured.

E: Configure Scenario

1. Open the blank input sheet located in dgen_os/excel/input_sheet_v_beta.xlsm (don't forget to enable macros!). This file defines most of the settings for a scenario. Configure it depending on the desired model run and save a copy in the input_scenarios folder, i.e. dgen_os/input_scenarios/my_scenario.xlsm.

See the Input Sheet Wiki page for more details on customizing scenarios.

2. In the python folder, open pg_params_connect.json and configure it to your local database. If you didn't change your username or password settings while setting up the docker container, this file should look like the below example:

   {	
	"dbname": "<insert_database_name>",
 	"host": "localhost",
	"port": "5432",
	"user": "postgres",
	"password": "postgres"
   }

• Localhost could also be set as "127.0.0.1"
• Save this file
• Make sure the role is set as "postgres" in settings.py (it is set as "postgres" already by default)

Note, the "load_path" variable in config.py from the beta release has been removed for the final release. The load data is now integrated into each database. Load data and meta data for the agents is still accessible via the OEDI data submission.

The cloned repository will have already initialized the default values for the following important parameters:

• start_year = 2014 ( in /../dgen/python/config.py) --> start year the model will begin at

• pg_procs = 2 ( in /../dgen/python/config.py) --> number of parallel processes the model will run with

• cores = 2 ( in /../dgen/python/config.py) --> number of cores the model will run with

• role = "postgres" ( in /../dgen/python/config.py) --> set role of the restored database

F: Run the Model

Run the model in the command line:

   $ python dgen_model.py

Or, open "dgen_model.py" in the Spyder IDE and hit the large green arrow "play button" near the upper left to run the model.

Results from the model run will be placed in a SQL table called "agent_outputs" within a newly created schema in the connected database. Because the database will not persist once a docker container is terminated, these results will need to be saved locally.

Saving Results:

1. To backup the whole database, including the results from the completed run, please run the following command in terminal after changing the save path and database name:

   $ docker exec <container_id> pg_dumpall -U postgres > '/../path_to_save_directory/dgen_db.sql'

• this .sql file can be restored in the same way as was detailed above.

2. To export just the "agent_outputs" table, simply right click on this table and select the "Import/Export" option and configure how you want the data to be saved. Note, if a save directory isn't specified this will likely save in the home directory.