[Scip] Capturing multiple optimal solutions to a ILP

[Rich Grenyer]

Hi -

I've been experimenting with SCIP+SoPlex over the last couple of days  
and I would really value some help getting started. My previous  
experience has been with the GLPK, so the open complexity of SCIP is a  
little daunting!

I have an problem expressed as a ILP. The problem is mid-sized -  
approximately 17000 binary variables and 5000 constraints, and has a  
large number of optimal solutions. I wish to examine a sample of the  
optimal solutions because I'm interested in the redundancy of  
individual variables.

As an ideal, I would like to collect a random sample of, say,  
1000-10000 solutions from the set of optimal solutions to the ILP. Is  
this a feasible (meaningful?) goal, and where might I start looking  
for ways to implement it?

Simply presolving and optimising my program generates (extremely  
quickly!) 8 optimal solutions, and describes one of them. Should I  
start looking at ways to 'design' a search strategy to sample a wider  
range of decisions? Or is there a simple solution I've missed?

Many thanks in advance...

Rich