Evaluating and extending user-level fault tolerance in MPI applications.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Evaluating and extending user-level fault tolerance in MPI applications.
Authors: Laguna, Ignacio1 ilaguna@llnl.gov, Richards, David F.1, Gamblin, Todd1, Schulz, Martin1, de Supinski, Bronis R.1, Mohror, Kathryn1, Pritchard, Howard2
Source: International Journal of High Performance Computing Applications. Fall2016, Vol. 30 Issue 3, p305-319. 15p.
Subjects: Fault tolerance (Engineering), Message passing (Computer science), Performance evaluation, User interfaces, Molecular dynamics
Abstract: The user-level failure mitigation (ULFM) interface has been proposed to provide fault-tolerant semantics in the Message Passing Interface (MPI). Previous work presented performance evaluations of ULFM; yet questions related to its programability and applicability, especially to non-trivial, bulk synchronous applications, remain unanswered. In this article, we present our experiences on using ULFM in a case study with a large, highly scalable, bulk synchronous molecular dynamics application to shed light on the advantages and difficulties of this interface to program fault-tolerant MPI applications. We found that, although ULFM is suitable for master–worker applications, it provides few benefits for more common bulk synchronous MPI applications. To address these limitations, we introduce a new, simpler fault-tolerant interface for complex, bulk synchronous MPI programs with better applicability and support than ULFM for application-level recovery mechanisms, such as global rollback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Engineering Source
Description
Abstract:The user-level failure mitigation (ULFM) interface has been proposed to provide fault-tolerant semantics in the Message Passing Interface (MPI). Previous work presented performance evaluations of ULFM; yet questions related to its programability and applicability, especially to non-trivial, bulk synchronous applications, remain unanswered. In this article, we present our experiences on using ULFM in a case study with a large, highly scalable, bulk synchronous molecular dynamics application to shed light on the advantages and difficulties of this interface to program fault-tolerant MPI applications. We found that, although ULFM is suitable for master–worker applications, it provides few benefits for more common bulk synchronous MPI applications. To address these limitations, we introduce a new, simpler fault-tolerant interface for complex, bulk synchronous MPI programs with better applicability and support than ULFM for application-level recovery mechanisms, such as global rollback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:10943420
DOI:10.1177/1094342015623623