Comparing the efficiency of in situ visualization paradigms at scale

James Kress, Matthew Larsen, Jong Choi, Mark Kim, Matthew Wolf, Norbert Podhorszki, Scott Klasky, Hank Childs, David Pugmire

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

This work compares the two major paradigms for doing in situ visualization: in-line, where the simulation and visualization share the same resources, and in-transit, where simulation and visualization are given dedicated resources. Our runs vary many parameters, including simulation cycle time, visualization frequency, and dedicated resources, to study how tradeoffs change over configuration. In particular, we consider simulations as large as 1,024 nodes (16,384 cores) and dedicated visualization resources with as many as 512 nodes (8,192 cores). We draw conclusions about when each paradigm is superior, such as in-line being superior when the simulation cycle time is very fast. Surprisingly, we also find that in-transit can minimize the total resources consumed for some configurations, since it can cause the visualization routines to require fewer overall resources when they run at lower concurrency. For example, one of our scenarios finds that allocating 25% more resources for visualization allows the simulation to run 61% faster than its in-line comparator. Finally, we explore various models for quantifying the cost for each paradigm, and consider transition points when one paradigm is superior to the other. Our contributions inform design decisions for simulation scientists when performing in situ visualization.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHigh Performance Computing - 34th International Conference, ISC High Performance 2019, Proceedings
EditorsCarsten Trinitis, Guido Juckeland, Michèle Weiland, Ponnuswamy Sadayappan
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages99-117
Number of pages19
ISBN (Print)9783030206550
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019
Event34th International Conference on High Performance Computing, ISC High Performance 2019 - Frankfurt, Germany
Duration: Jun 16 2019Jun 20 2019

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume11501 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference34th International Conference on High Performance Computing, ISC High Performance 2019
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityFrankfurt
Period06/16/1906/20/19

Funding

Acknowledgments. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program. This research used resources of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility supported under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. This work was partially performed by UT-Battelle, LLC, with the US Department of Energy. This work was partially performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNL-CONF-769101).

FundersFunder number
DOE Office of ScienceDE-AC05-00OR22725
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
Advanced Scientific Computing Research
Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryDE-AC52-07NA27344

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