Q&A
What is the difference between Wolfram Enterprise Private Cloud (EPC) and the Wolfram Cloud?
EPC is a self-contained appliance consisting of a web application installed on a virtual machine (VM) running CentOS. It includes access to all Wolfram Cloud web interfaces, with additional tools for resource management, user authentication and personalization. All EPC computations use privately hosted resources. Typical Wolfram Cloud subscriptions include one web interface (with product-specific features) and use public Wolfram Cloud resources.
Does performance differ between Enterprise Private Cloud and the Wolfram Cloud?
Performance is based on the structure, system architecture and user load of your application. A properly sized EPC will see equal or better performance than the Wolfram Cloud.
What are the minimum system requirements for Enterprise Private Cloud?
The minimum system requirements for a single virtual machine instance of EPC are 8-core CPU, 8 Wolfram kernels, 16GB of RAM and 150GB of storage space. For optimal performance, we recommend at least 24GB of RAM and 250GB of storage space.
Which Wolfram Cloud products can I use through my Enterprise Private Cloud?
Your EPC includes access to each of the Wolfram Cloud interfaces: Wolfram|One, Mathematica Online and Programming Lab. You can choose the interface that best matches your task.
Can I connect to my Enterprise Private Cloud from Mathematica?
Sure! You can authenticate Mathematica, Wolfram Desktop or other Wolfram desktop products to your EPC using the CloudConnect function. Doing so allows you to deploy objects directly from your desktop product to your cloud infrastructure. Keep in mind that older versions of Wolfram desktop products may not be able to take advantage of the newest EPC features (and vice versa).
What are the differences in functionality between Mathematica and Enterprise Private Cloud?
In most cases, anything that evaluates in a desktop notebook will function identically in EPC. However, there are a number of functions that are optimized for the individual platforms (i.e. scheduled tasks are not supported on desktop). In addition, older versions of Mathematica, Wolfram Desktop or other Wolfram desktop products may not be able to take advantage of the newest EPC features (and vice versa). We are continually adding and improving upon functionality in all our products. To find out about a specific function, please refer to the Documentation Center page for that function.
Can I use Enterprise Private Cloud with external customers?
Yes. Any asset contained within your EPC may be securely shared with the public using standard authentication protocols.
Is academic pricing available?
Yes! Academic discounts are available to accredited schools, colleges and universities. We also offer special pricing to nonprofit organizations and to research, government and government-funded institutions.
Can my organization add Enterprise Private Cloud to our existing Wolfram product site license?
Absolutely! In fact, your existing site license discount will apply to your EPC as well. Contact us for a quote.
Will my Enterprise Private Cloud function without internet access (i.e. entirely contained inside a company intranet)?
Yes. Since EPC is self-contained, it does not require any external connections to function. However, certain features such as Wolfram Knowledgebase access and external services may be limited without an internet connection.
Can I deploy existing Wolfram Language code to Enterprise Private Cloud?
Yes. Wolfram Language code can be deployed directly to EPC from any desktop or cloud interface connected and authenticated to your cloud infrastructure.
How does webMathematica compare to Enterprise Private Cloud?
webMathematica enables the direct inclusion of Wolfram Language commands within HTML documents on a web server. This allows basic web requests to be processed by a Wolfram kernel with no end-user installation. EPC expands on this functionality, providing web-based development and instant deployment options, along with additional configuration and management tools not available through webMathematica. The chart below outlines some key differences between the two products.
Programming Lab
Mathematica Online
Does my Enterprise Private Cloud support parallelization?
Yes. EPC supports parallel functionality like ParallelEvaluate and ParallelMap. These functions distribute the evaluation of an expression across available kernels in order to return output more quickly. When setting up your EPC initially, you may choose to enable or disable the use of this functionality. Consider how many users you anticipate accessing your EPC concurrently and how many kernels you have available before enabling this setting. See our tutorial on Parallel Evaluation for further details.
Can I connect to an external database from my Enterprise Private Cloud?
Absolutely! You can configure your EPC to allow communication with specified external IP addresses. Once the IP for an external database is configured, use the DatabaseLink function to connect to it. See Database Connections and Resources for details.
Does Enterprise Private Cloud offer an alternative to a locally deployed DLL?
Components of EPC can be referenced and linked remotely from anywhere within the cloud, eliminating the need for local DLLs.
How many users will my Enterprise Private Cloud support?
EPC can support an unlimited number of user accounts. The number of sessions that can be active concurrently depends on how many Wolfram session kernels are configured.
What type of user management tools are available?
Our current user management tools come in the form of command-line functions that support creation, deletion, editing and retrieval of user information. Full Wolfram Language user management tools are currently under development and planned for future releases.
What are the different kernel types and what are their functions?
There are three Wolfram kernel types: Session, Deployment and Service.
- Session kernels: Control the user session upon login.
- Deployment kernels: Allow users to deploy a cloud object to the web and generate a URL to access it.
- Service kernels: Allow users to run scheduled tasks (computations that run at set intervals).
Do I have to update my Enterprise Private Cloud whenever there's a new version?
No. You can update at your leisure. We recommend that you keep your EPC up to date with the latest release to take advantage of the latest features and fixes!
What hypervisors do you support?
EPC is a self-packaged virtual machine that can run in single- or multiple-machine configurations on these supported hypervisors: Amazon EC2, VMware, VirtualBox and KVM. EPC installation will run within infrastructures that support regulatory standards, so you can maintain compliance with HIPAA, FERPA, GLB and other acts or requirements.
How do I report an issue with my Enterprise Private Cloud?
Please contact privatecloud-support@wolfram.com with details, and one of our engineers will assist you. Or for questions about the Wolfram Language, please contact Wolfram Technical Support.
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