Spark deployment and performance evaluation on the MareNostrum supercomputer

In this paper we present a framework to enable data-intensive Spark workloads on MareNostrum, a petascale supercomputer designed mainly for compute-intensive applications. As far as we know, this is the first attempt to investigate optimized deployment configurations of Spark on a petascale HPC setup. We detail the design of the framework and present some benchmark data to provide insights into the scalability of the system. We examine the impact of different configurations including parallelism, storage and networking alternatives, and we discuss several aspects in executing Big Data workloads on a computing system that is based on the compute-centric paradigm. Further, we derive conclusions aiming to pave the way towards systematic and optimized methodologies for fine-tuning data-intensive application on large clusters emphasizing on parallelism configurations.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Distributed training of deep neural networks with spark: The MareNostrum experience

Deployment of a distributed deep learning technology stack on a large parallel system is a very complex process, involving the integration and configuration of several layers of both, general-purpose and custom software. The details of such kind of deployments are rarely described in the literature. This paper presents the experiences observed during the deployment of a technology stack to enable deep learning workloads on MareNostrum, a petascale supercomputer. The components of a layered architecture, based on the usage of Apache Spark, are described and the performance and scalability of the resulting system is evaluated. This is followed by a discussion about the impact of different configurations including parallelism, storage and networking alternatives, and other aspects related to the execution of deep learning workloads on a traditional HPC setup. The derived conclusions should be useful to guide similarly complex deployments in the future.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A methodology for Spark parameter tuning

Spark has been established as an attractive platform for big data analysis, since it manages to hide most of the complexities related to parallelism, fault tolerance and cluster setting from developers. However, this comes at the expense of having over 150 configurable parameters, the impact of which cannot be exhaustively examined due to the exponential amount of their combinations. The default values allow developers to quickly deploy their applications but leave the question as to whether performance can be improved open. In this work, we investigate the impact of the most important tunable Spark parameters with regards to shuffling, compression and serialization on the application performance through extensive experimentation using the Spark-enabled Marenostrum III (MN3) computing infrastructure of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. The overarching aim is to guide developers on how to proceed to changes to the default values. We build upon our previous work, where we mapped our experience to a trial-and-error iterative improvement methodology for tuning parameters in arbitrary applications based on evidence from a very small number of experimental runs. The main contribution of this work is that we propose an alternative systematic methodology for parameter tuning, which can be easily applied onto any computing infrastructure and is shown to yield comparable if not better results than the initial one when applied to MN3; observed speedups in our validating test case studies start from 20%. In addition, the new methodology can rely on runs using samples instead of runs on the complete datasets, which render it significantly more practical.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Task-based programming in COMPSs to converge from HPC to big data

Task-based programming has proven to be a suitable model for high-performance computing (HPC) applications. Different implementations have been good demonstrators of this fact and have promoted the acceptance of task-based programming in the OpenMP standard. Furthermore, in recent years, Apache Spark has gained wide popularity in business and research environments as a programming model for addressing emerging big data problems. COMP Superscalar (COMPSs) is a task-based environment that tackles distributed computing (including Clouds) and is a good alternative for a task-based programming model for big data applications. This article describes why we consider that task-based programming models are a good approach for big data applications. The article includes a comparison of Spark and COMPSs in terms of architecture, programming model, and performance. It focuses on the differences that both frameworks have in structural terms, on their programmability interface, and in terms of their efficiency by means of three widely known benchmarking kernels: Wordcount, Kmeans, and Terasort. These kernels enable the evaluation of the more important functionalities of both programming models and analyze different work flows and conditions. The main results achieved from this comparison are (1) COMPSs is able to extract the inherent parallelism from the user code with minimal coding effort as opposed to Spark, which requires the existing algorithms to be adapted and rewritten by explicitly using their predefined functions, (2) it is an improvement in terms of performance when compared with Spark, and (3) COMPSs has shown to scale better than Spark in most cases. Finally, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both frameworks, highlighting the differences that make them unique, thereby helping to choose the right framework for each particular objective.This work is supported by the Spanish Government (SEV2015-0493), by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (contract TIN2015-65316-P), by Generalitat de Catalunya (contracts 2014-SGR-1051 and 2014-SGR-1272). Javier Conejero’s postdoctoral contract is cofinanced by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the Juan de la Cierva Formación postdoctoral fellowship number FJCI-2015-24651. This work is also supported by the Intel-BSC Exascale Lab. The Human Brain Project receives funding from the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no 604102.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Inferring latent user attributes in streams on multimodal social data using spark

The principal goal of this work can be expressed in two simple words Apache Spark; basically this framework help a developer to deal with big data. Our scope is to understand how Spark operates and use it to deal with Big Data using APIs offered for implement different classifier

DDS: integrating data analytics transformations in task-based workflows [version 1; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations]

High-performance data analytics (HPDA) is a current trend in e-science research that aims to integrate traditional HPC with recent data analytic frameworks. Most of the work done in this field has focused on improving data analytic frameworks by implementing their engines on top of HPC technologies such as Message Passing Interface. However, there is a lack of integration from an application development perspective. HPC workflows have their own parallel programming models, while data analytic (DA) algorithms are mainly implemented using data transformations and executed with frameworks like Spark. Task-based programming models (TBPMs) are a very efficient approach for implementing HPC workflows. Data analytic transformations can also be decomposed as a set of tasks and implemented with a task-based programming model. In this paper, we present a methodology to develop HPDA applications on top of TBPMs that allow developers to combine HPC workflows and data analytic transformations seamlessly. A prototype of this approach has been implemented on top of the PyCOMPSs task- based programming model to validate two aspects: HPDA applications can be seamlessly developed and have better performance than Spark. We compare our results using different programs. Finally, we conclude with the idea of integrating DA into HPC applications and evaluation of our method against Spark.This research was financially supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 780622; and the Spanish Government (PID2019-107255GB), Generalitat de Catalunya (2014-SGR-1051).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Deployment de Spark al Supercomputador Marenostrum III

Aquest treball de final de grau tracta un tema d'actualitat i de gran interès.En concret es fa una introducció al món de l'anàlisi de dades massives utilitzant l'eina Spark. Durant el desenvolupament d'aquest projecte es fa una comparació entre diferents plataformes que permeten treballar amb Spark.This Final Degree Project is about a topic of current interest. In particular, this project is an introduction to the world of massive data analysis using Spark. During this project it's made a comparison between different platforms that can work with Spark

AutoParallel: A Python module for automatic parallelization and distributed execution of affine loop nests

The last improvements in programming languages, programming models, and frameworks have focused on abstracting the users from many programming issues. Among others, recent programming frameworks include simpler syntax, automatic memory management and garbage collection, which simplifies code re-usage through library packages, and easily configurable tools for deployment. For instance, Python has risen to the top of the list of the programming languages due to the simplicity of its syntax, while still achieving a good performance even being an interpreted language. Moreover, the community has helped to develop a large number of libraries and modules, tuning them to obtain great performance. However, there is still room for improvement when preventing users from dealing directly with distributed and parallel computing issues. This paper proposes and evaluates AutoParallel, a Python module to automatically find an appropriate task-based parallelization of affine loop nests to execute them in parallel in a distributed computing infrastructure. This parallelization can also include the building of data blocks to increase task granularity in order to achieve a good execution performance. Moreover, AutoParallel is based on sequential programming and only contains a small annotation in the form of a Python decorator so that anyone with little programming skills can scale up an application to hundreds of cores.Comment: Accepted to the 8th Workshop on Python for High-Performance and Scientific Computing (PyHPC 2018

Programming models to support data science workflows

Data Science workflows have become a must to progress in many scientific areas such as life, health, and earth sciences. In contrast to traditional HPC workflows, they are more heterogeneous; combining binary executions, MPI simulations, multi-threaded applications, custom analysis (possibly written in Java, Python, C/C++ or R), and real-time processing. Furthermore, in the past, field experts were capable of programming and running small simulations. However, nowadays, simulations requiring hundreds or thousands of cores are widely used and, to this point, efficiently programming them becomes a challenge even for computer sciences. Thus, programming languages and models make a considerable effort to ease the programmability while maintaining acceptable performance. This thesis contributes to the adaptation of High-Performance frameworks to support the needs and challenges of Data Science workflows by extending COMPSs, a mature, general-purpose, task-based, distributed programming model. First, we enhance our prototype to orchestrate different frameworks inside a single programming model so that non-expert users can build complex workflows where some steps require highly optimised state of the art frameworks. This extension includes the @binary, @OmpSs, @MPI, @COMPSs, and @MultiNode annotations for both Java and Python workflows. Second, we integrate container technologies to enable developers to easily port, distribute, and scale their applications to distributed computing platforms. This combination provides a straightforward methodology to parallelise applications from sequential codes along with efficient image management and application deployment that ease the packaging and distribution of applications. We distinguish between static, HPC, and dynamic container management and provide representative use cases for each scenario using Docker, Singularity, and Mesos. Third, we design, implement and integrate AutoParallel, a Python module to automatically find an appropriate task-based parallelisation of affine loop nests and execute them in parallel in a distributed computing infrastructure. It is based on sequential programming and requires one single annotation (the @parallel Python decorator) so that anyone with intermediate-level programming skills can scale up an application to hundreds of cores. Finally, we propose a way to extend task-based management systems to support continuous input and output data to enable the combination of task-based workflows and dataflows (Hybrid Workflows) using one single programming model. Hence, developers can build complex Data Science workflows with different approaches depending on the requirements without the effort of combining several frameworks at the same time. Also, to illustrate the capabilities of Hybrid Workflows, we have built a Distributed Stream Library that can be easily integrated with existing task-based frameworks to provide support for dataflows. The library provides a homogeneous, generic, and simple representation of object and file streams in both Java and Python; enabling complex workflows to handle any data type without dealing directly with the streaming back-end.Els fluxos de treball de Data Science s’han convertit en una necessitat per progressar en moltes àrees científiques com les ciències de la vida, la salut i la terra. A diferència dels fluxos de treball tradicionals per a la CAP, els fluxos de Data Science són més heterogenis; combinant l’execució de binaris, simulacions MPI, aplicacions multiprocés, anàlisi personalitzats (possiblement escrits en Java, Python, C / C ++ o R) i computacions en temps real. Mentre que en el passat els experts de cada camp eren capaços de programar i executar petites simulacions, avui dia, aquestes simulacions representen un repte fins i tot per als experts ja que requereixen centenars o milers de nuclis. Per aquesta raó, els llenguatges i models de programació actuals s’esforcen considerablement en incrementar la programabilitat mantenint un rendiment acceptable. Aquesta tesi contribueix a l’adaptació de models de programació per a la CAP per afrontar les necessitats i reptes dels fluxos de Data Science estenent COMPSs, un model de programació distribuïda madur, de propòsit general, i basat en tasques. En primer lloc, millorem el nostre prototip per orquestrar diferent programari per a que els usuaris no experts puguin crear fluxos complexos usant un únic model on alguns passos requereixin tecnologies altament optimitzades. Aquesta extensió inclou les anotacions de @binary, @OmpSs, @MPI, @COMPSs, i @MultiNode per a fluxos en Java i Python. En segon lloc, integrem tecnologies de contenidors per permetre als desenvolupadors portar, distribuir i escalar fàcilment les seves aplicacions en plataformes distribuïdes. A més d’una metodologia senzilla per a paral·lelitzar aplicacions a partir de codis seqüencials, aquesta combinació proporciona una gestió d’imatges i una implementació d’aplicacions eficients que faciliten l’empaquetat i la distribució d’aplicacions. Distingim entre la gestió de contenidors estàtica, CAP i dinàmica i proporcionem casos d’ús representatius per a cada escenari amb Docker, Singularity i Mesos. En tercer lloc, dissenyem, implementem i integrem AutoParallel, un mòdul de Python per determinar automàticament la paral·lelització basada en tasques de nius de bucles afins i executar-los en paral·lel en una infraestructura distribuïda. AutoParallel està basat en programació seqüencial, requereix una sola anotació (el decorador @parallel) i permet a un usuari intermig escalar una aplicació a centenars de nuclis. Finalment, proposem una forma d’estendre els sistemes basats en tasques per admetre dades d’entrada i sortida continus; permetent així la combinació de fluxos de treball i dades (Fluxos Híbrids) en un únic model. Conseqüentment, els desenvolupadors poden crear fluxos complexos seguint diferents patrons sense l’esforç de combinar diversos models al mateix temps. A més, per a il·lustrar les capacitats dels Fluxos Híbrids, hem creat una biblioteca (DistroStreamLib) que s’integra fàcilment amb els models basats en tasques per suportar fluxos de dades. La biblioteca proporciona una representació homogènia, genèrica i simple de seqüències contínues d’objectes i arxius en Java i Python; permetent gestionar qualsevol tipus de dades sense tractar directament amb el back-end de streaming.Los flujos de trabajo de Data Science se han convertido en una necesidad para progresar en muchas áreas científicas como las ciencias de la vida, la salud y la tierra. A diferencia de los flujos de trabajo tradicionales para la CAP, los flujos de Data Science son más heterogéneos; combinando la ejecución de binarios, simulaciones MPI, aplicaciones multiproceso, análisis personalizados (posiblemente escritos en Java, Python, C/C++ o R) y computaciones en tiempo real. Mientras que en el pasado los expertos de cada campo eran capaces de programar y ejecutar pequeñas simulaciones, hoy en día, estas simulaciones representan un desafío incluso para los expertos ya que requieren cientos o miles de núcleos. Por esta razón, los lenguajes y modelos de programación actuales se esfuerzan considerablemente en incrementar la programabilidad manteniendo un rendimiento aceptable. Esta tesis contribuye a la adaptación de modelos de programación para la CAP para afrontar las necesidades y desafíos de los flujos de Data Science extendiendo COMPSs, un modelo de programación distribuida maduro, de propósito general, y basado en tareas. En primer lugar, mejoramos nuestro prototipo para orquestar diferentes software para que los usuarios no expertos puedan crear flujos complejos usando un único modelo donde algunos pasos requieran tecnologías altamente optimizadas. Esta extensión incluye las anotaciones de @binary, @OmpSs, @MPI, @COMPSs, y @MultiNode para flujos en Java y Python. En segundo lugar, integramos tecnologías de contenedores para permitir a los desarrolladores portar, distribuir y escalar fácilmente sus aplicaciones en plataformas distribuidas. Además de una metodología sencilla para paralelizar aplicaciones a partir de códigos secuenciales, esta combinación proporciona una gestión de imágenes y una implementación de aplicaciones eficientes que facilitan el empaquetado y la distribución de aplicaciones. Distinguimos entre gestión de contenedores estática, CAP y dinámica y proporcionamos casos de uso representativos para cada escenario con Docker, Singularity y Mesos. En tercer lugar, diseñamos, implementamos e integramos AutoParallel, un módulo de Python para determinar automáticamente la paralelización basada en tareas de nidos de bucles afines y ejecutarlos en paralelo en una infraestructura distribuida. AutoParallel está basado en programación secuencial, requiere una sola anotación (el decorador @parallel) y permite a un usuario intermedio escalar una aplicación a cientos de núcleos. Finalmente, proponemos una forma de extender los sistemas basados en tareas para admitir datos de entrada y salida continuos; permitiendo así la combinación de flujos de trabajo y datos (Flujos Híbridos) en un único modelo. Consecuentemente, los desarrolladores pueden crear flujos complejos siguiendo diferentes patrones sin el esfuerzo de combinar varios modelos al mismo tiempo. Además, para ilustrar las capacidades de los Flujos Híbridos, hemos creado una biblioteca (DistroStreamLib) que se integra fácilmente a los modelos basados en tareas para soportar flujos de datos. La biblioteca proporciona una representación homogénea, genérica y simple de secuencias continuas de objetos y archivos en Java y Python; permitiendo manejar cualquier tipo de datos sin tratar directamente con el back-end de streaming

Programming models to support data science workflows

Data Science workflows have become a must to progress in many scientific areas such as life, health, and earth sciences. In contrast to traditional HPC workflows, they are more heterogeneous; combining binary executions, MPI simulations, multi-threaded applications, custom analysis (possibly written in Java, Python, C/C++ or R), and real-time processing. Furthermore, in the past, field experts were capable of programming and running small simulations. However, nowadays, simulations requiring hundreds or thousands of cores are widely used and, to this point, efficiently programming them becomes a challenge even for computer sciences. Thus, programming languages and models make a considerable effort to ease the programmability while maintaining acceptable performance. This thesis contributes to the adaptation of High-Performance frameworks to support the needs and challenges of Data Science workflows by extending COMPSs, a mature, general-purpose, task-based, distributed programming model. First, we enhance our prototype to orchestrate different frameworks inside a single programming model so that non-expert users can build complex workflows where some steps require highly optimised state of the art frameworks. This extension includes the @binary, @OmpSs, @MPI, @COMPSs, and @MultiNode annotations for both Java and Python workflows. Second, we integrate container technologies to enable developers to easily port, distribute, and scale their applications to distributed computing platforms. This combination provides a straightforward methodology to parallelise applications from sequential codes along with efficient image management and application deployment that ease the packaging and distribution of applications. We distinguish between static, HPC, and dynamic container management and provide representative use cases for each scenario using Docker, Singularity, and Mesos. Third, we design, implement and integrate AutoParallel, a Python module to automatically find an appropriate task-based parallelisation of affine loop nests and execute them in parallel in a distributed computing infrastructure. It is based on sequential programming and requires one single annotation (the @parallel Python decorator) so that anyone with intermediate-level programming skills can scale up an application to hundreds of cores. Finally, we propose a way to extend task-based management systems to support continuous input and output data to enable the combination of task-based workflows and dataflows (Hybrid Workflows) using one single programming model. Hence, developers can build complex Data Science workflows with different approaches depending on the requirements without the effort of combining several frameworks at the same time. Also, to illustrate the capabilities of Hybrid Workflows, we have built a Distributed Stream Library that can be easily integrated with existing task-based frameworks to provide support for dataflows. The library provides a homogeneous, generic, and simple representation of object and file streams in both Java and Python; enabling complex workflows to handle any data type without dealing directly with the streaming back-end.Els fluxos de treball de Data Science s’han convertit en una necessitat per progressar en moltes àrees científiques com les ciències de la vida, la salut i la terra. A diferència dels fluxos de treball tradicionals per a la CAP, els fluxos de Data Science són més heterogenis; combinant l’execució de binaris, simulacions MPI, aplicacions multiprocés, anàlisi personalitzats (possiblement escrits en Java, Python, C / C ++ o R) i computacions en temps real. Mentre que en el passat els experts de cada camp eren capaços de programar i executar petites simulacions, avui dia, aquestes simulacions representen un repte fins i tot per als experts ja que requereixen centenars o milers de nuclis. Per aquesta raó, els llenguatges i models de programació actuals s’esforcen considerablement en incrementar la programabilitat mantenint un rendiment acceptable. Aquesta tesi contribueix a l’adaptació de models de programació per a la CAP per afrontar les necessitats i reptes dels fluxos de Data Science estenent COMPSs, un model de programació distribuïda madur, de propòsit general, i basat en tasques. En primer lloc, millorem el nostre prototip per orquestrar diferent programari per a que els usuaris no experts puguin crear fluxos complexos usant un únic model on alguns passos requereixin tecnologies altament optimitzades. Aquesta extensió inclou les anotacions de @binary, @OmpSs, @MPI, @COMPSs, i @MultiNode per a fluxos en Java i Python. En segon lloc, integrem tecnologies de contenidors per permetre als desenvolupadors portar, distribuir i escalar fàcilment les seves aplicacions en plataformes distribuïdes. A més d’una metodologia senzilla per a paral·lelitzar aplicacions a partir de codis seqüencials, aquesta combinació proporciona una gestió d’imatges i una implementació d’aplicacions eficients que faciliten l’empaquetat i la distribució d’aplicacions. Distingim entre la gestió de contenidors estàtica, CAP i dinàmica i proporcionem casos d’ús representatius per a cada escenari amb Docker, Singularity i Mesos. En tercer lloc, dissenyem, implementem i integrem AutoParallel, un mòdul de Python per determinar automàticament la paral·lelització basada en tasques de nius de bucles afins i executar-los en paral·lel en una infraestructura distribuïda. AutoParallel està basat en programació seqüencial, requereix una sola anotació (el decorador @parallel) i permet a un usuari intermig escalar una aplicació a centenars de nuclis. Finalment, proposem una forma d’estendre els sistemes basats en tasques per admetre dades d’entrada i sortida continus; permetent així la combinació de fluxos de treball i dades (Fluxos Híbrids) en un únic model. Conseqüentment, els desenvolupadors poden crear fluxos complexos seguint diferents patrons sense l’esforç de combinar diversos models al mateix temps. A més, per a il·lustrar les capacitats dels Fluxos Híbrids, hem creat una biblioteca (DistroStreamLib) que s’integra fàcilment amb els models basats en tasques per suportar fluxos de dades. La biblioteca proporciona una representació homogènia, genèrica i simple de seqüències contínues d’objectes i arxius en Java i Python; permetent gestionar qualsevol tipus de dades sense tractar directament amb el back-end de streaming.Los flujos de trabajo de Data Science se han convertido en una necesidad para progresar en muchas áreas científicas como las ciencias de la vida, la salud y la tierra. A diferencia de los flujos de trabajo tradicionales para la CAP, los flujos de Data Science son más heterogéneos; combinando la ejecución de binarios, simulaciones MPI, aplicaciones multiproceso, análisis personalizados (posiblemente escritos en Java, Python, C/C++ o R) y computaciones en tiempo real. Mientras que en el pasado los expertos de cada campo eran capaces de programar y ejecutar pequeñas simulaciones, hoy en día, estas simulaciones representan un desafío incluso para los expertos ya que requieren cientos o miles de núcleos. Por esta razón, los lenguajes y modelos de programación actuales se esfuerzan considerablemente en incrementar la programabilidad manteniendo un rendimiento aceptable. Esta tesis contribuye a la adaptación de modelos de programación para la CAP para afrontar las necesidades y desafíos de los flujos de Data Science extendiendo COMPSs, un modelo de programación distribuida maduro, de propósito general, y basado en tareas. En primer lugar, mejoramos nuestro prototipo para orquestar diferentes software para que los usuarios no expertos puedan crear flujos complejos usando un único modelo donde algunos pasos requieran tecnologías altamente optimizadas. Esta extensión incluye las anotaciones de @binary, @OmpSs, @MPI, @COMPSs, y @MultiNode para flujos en Java y Python. En segundo lugar, integramos tecnologías de contenedores para permitir a los desarrolladores portar, distribuir y escalar fácilmente sus aplicaciones en plataformas distribuidas. Además de una metodología sencilla para paralelizar aplicaciones a partir de códigos secuenciales, esta combinación proporciona una gestión de imágenes y una implementación de aplicaciones eficientes que facilitan el empaquetado y la distribución de aplicaciones. Distinguimos entre gestión de contenedores estática, CAP y dinámica y proporcionamos casos de uso representativos para cada escenario con Docker, Singularity y Mesos. En tercer lugar, diseñamos, implementamos e integramos AutoParallel, un módulo de Python para determinar automáticamente la paralelización basada en tareas de nidos de bucles afines y ejecutarlos en paralelo en una infraestructura distribuida. AutoParallel está basado en programación secuencial, requiere una sola anotación (el decorador @parallel) y permite a un usuario intermedio escalar una aplicación a cientos de núcleos. Finalmente, proponemos una forma de extender los sistemas basados en tareas para admitir datos de entrada y salida continuos; permitiendo así la combinación de flujos de trabajo y datos (Flujos Híbridos) en un único modelo. Consecuentemente, los desarrolladores pueden crear flujos complejos siguiendo diferentes patrones sin el esfuerzo de combinar varios modelos al mismo tiempo. Además, para ilustrar las capacidades de los Flujos Híbridos, hemos creado una biblioteca (DistroStreamLib) que se integra fácilmente a los modelos basados en tareas para soportar flujos de datos. La biblioteca proporciona una representación homogénea, genérica y simple de secuencias continuas de objetos y archivos en Java y Python; permitiendo manejar cualquier tipo de datos sin tratar directamente con el back-end de streaming.Postprint (published version