To do this I have been given software that is single threaded and will only run a single instance, so I have taught myself Hyper-V, and run several VMs with alternative searches simultaneously. These searches can take 12+ hours to run.
The software also runs 25% faster when allocated 2 threads maximum than when 3+ are available…
Second of all,
>These searches can take 12+ hours to run
WTF. What are these searches doing?
> WTF. What are these searches doing?
This is why you're a techie ;)
The searches are trying to allocate groups of teachers to time slots, subject to the inputted constraints e.g. their students aren’t elsewhere, changing rooms are available if needed, a teacher hasn’t been allocated a different class already etc.
But I can’t tell the software which constraints are hard, which are soft, and which have alternatives we are indifferent about. Hence the need for parallel searches!
Kudos.
Edit: read the other answers. In FEL you can specify hard and soft constraints. Search can be long nonetheless...