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Plan-Based Process Scheduling on HPC Nodes

worked on by: Kelvin Glaß

Outline

OUTLINE

Thesis Requirements

  • Implement a prototype of a plan based scheduler in the current linux kernel version
  • Analyse conditions of the plan (how many idle times, how are they distributed)

Weekly Status

Week 1 (CW 45)

Activities

  • Research on the architecture of current linux versions
  • Create a development infrastructure
  • Start implementation of the scheduler

Results

  • Created Qemu-Image, Scripts that build and execute the kernel
  • Implemented prototype scheduler that switches after a certain time from PB-Scheduler to CFS
  • Implemented linux module that starts the plan execution

Next Steps

  • Enhance the scheduler so that the switch back from CFS to PB-Scheduler is in time
  • Create a first table of contents
  • Modify the kernel & module so that the plan can be set by the module

Problems

Week 2 (CW 46)

Activities

  • Enhance prototype
  • Enhance development infrastructure
  • Create first table of contents

Results

  • Working prototype scheduler that switches from PB-Sched. → CFS/Idle and Idle/CFS → PB-Sched.
  • The plan can be set by a module
  • It is possible to set a new plan after the first is execute
  • Created infrastructure script, that converts a plan in csv → linux module + Makefile

Next Steps

  • Start with theoretical work (e.g. find a definition of an unstable system)
  • Create script that executes all modules one after another and aggregates the results

Problems

  • Found a race-condition (which led to sporadic kernel-panic) in the prototype, caused by a missing put_prev_task call in the pick_next_task method of the PB-Scheduler

Week 3 (CW 47)

Activities

  • Enhance test infrastructure
  • Start writing first sections
  • Start with analysis of criteria of a plan guaranteeing a stable system

Results

  • Test script that executes a set of modules and aggregates the results
  • First sections: Requirements of the PB-Scheduler prototype, Explanation of the abstract design of the Linux scheduler core functionality, Explanation of the implementation of the Linux scheduler (started)
  • Divided stability criteria of a plan into sub problem: 1.: "What is the maximal task length without causing problems for other applications?", 2.: "What is the minimal idle time that allows to run processes from (1.) and run processes depending on the plan?"

Next Steps

  • Continue with the definition of criteria
  • Continue writing the Explanation of the implementation of the Linux scheduler
  • Start analysis of different Queue states (CFS-Q full/empty, PB-Q full/empty)
  • Start writing to explain how the PB-Scheduler prototype is implemented in Linux

Problems

  • Running all tests showed that the delta between switching from idle to PB-Scheduler and switching from cfs to PB-Scheduler is still big. This could be fixed

Week 4 (CW 48)

Activities

  • Write first draft of chapter "Plan Based Linux Scheduler", results in the "Evaluation" chapter, assumptions in the "Plan" chapter
  • Install modified kernel on real hardware and execute all tests

Results

  • First (!) draft of the "Plan Based Linux Chapter" (containing: Requirements, Why Linux, Architecture of current Linux scheduler, Module handling)
  • Installed Lubuntu (16.10 with a 4.8.0-59-generic) on real hardware, installed modified kernel. The system ran stable with the new kernel (even the X environment).
  • Executed tests to check whether the OS itself has a task execution time limitations. The result suggest that no limitation exists. Tested execution times of 1min, 20min, 60min.

Next Steps

  • improve drafts
  • Create test to determine the minimal free time of a plan (Approach: measure kernel thread exec. time during free time)

Week 5 (CW 49)

Activities

  • Enhance kernel: Measure kernel thread execution time in a certain period
  • Start tests with real HPC application to measure the amount of kernel thread execution time
  • Write first draw about the enhancement and the measurement results

Results

  • Enhanced kernel: Implemented measurement in __schedule() and required variables in the PB-runqueue structure
  • Wrote first results and description of the enhancement
  • Measured times for Matrix-Mul. and Primer-Nr.-Generation with MPI (100 test runs per input)

Next Steps

  • Find a more representative app, define a testset, measure it, document environment, document results
  • If possible: Derive abstract result from the measurement results.

Problems

  • Find a representative example HPC application
  • Running such an application is not easy in QEMU. Therefore it was necessary to run on real hardware.
  • The first measurements results were wrong, because the idle thread is also a kernel thread, but the idle time should not be a part of the kernel thread execution time.

Week 6 (CW 1)

Activities

  • Write first version of the evaluation
  • Research for the first chapter that describes the plan creation, grid computing and the VRM

Results

  • Write first version of the evaluation
  • First sketches of the grid computing explanation

Next Steps

  • Clean the second chapter so that the first chapter will the remaining main task

Week 7 (CW 2)

Activities

  • Complete the code: rename variables, change indentation so that the code fits into LaTeX code boxes, Test the changed code
  • Create State Transition Diagram and integrate into tex
  • Correct result charts (error bars are < 0)
  • Add explanation of the task_struct
  • Add short explanation of each Linux scheduler module
  • Check assessment criteria

Results

  • Cleaned code
  • Cleaner version of the seconds chapter

Next Steps

  • Research for chapter 1
  • Write chapter 1

Problems

As of Week 8 (CW 3)

  • Iterative writing process