##// END OF EJS Templates
match return shape in AsyncResult to sync results
match return shape in AsyncResult to sync results

File last commit:

r3591:c98ee05f
r3593:e9e0d814
Show More
parallel_multiengine.txt
785 lines | 26.6 KiB | text/plain | TextLexer
/ docs / source / parallelz / parallel_multiengine.txt
.. _parallelmultiengine:
===============================
IPython's multiengine interface
===============================
The multiengine interface represents one possible way of working with a set of
IPython engines. The basic idea behind the multiengine interface is that the
capabilities of each engine are directly and explicitly exposed to the user.
Thus, in the multiengine interface, each engine is given an id that is used to
identify the engine and give it work to do. This interface is very intuitive
and is designed with interactive usage in mind, and is thus the best place for
new users of IPython to begin.
Starting the IPython controller and engines
===========================================
To follow along with this tutorial, you will need to start the IPython
controller and four IPython engines. The simplest way of doing this is to use
the :command:`ipclusterz` command::
$ ipclusterz -n 4
For more detailed information about starting the controller and engines, see
our :ref:`introduction <ip1par>` to using IPython for parallel computing.
Creating a ``Client`` instance
==============================
The first step is to import the IPython :mod:`IPython.zmq.parallel.client`
module and then create a :class:`.Client` instance:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [1]: from IPython.zmq.parallel import client
In [2]: rc = client.Client()
This form assumes that the controller was started on localhost with default
configuration. If not, the location of the controller must be given as an
argument to the constructor:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
# for a visible LAN controller listening on an external port:
In [2]: rc = client.Client('tcp://192.168.1.16:10101')
# for a remote controller at my.server.com listening on localhost:
In [3]: rc = client.Client(sshserver='my.server.com')
To make sure there are engines connected to the controller, use can get a list
of engine ids:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [3]: rc.ids
Out[3]: set([0, 1, 2, 3])
Here we see that there are four engines ready to do work for us.
Quick and easy parallelism
==========================
In many cases, you simply want to apply a Python function to a sequence of
objects, but *in parallel*. The client interface provides a simple way
of accomplishing this: useing the builtin :func:`map` and the ``@remote``
function decorator.
Parallel map
------------
Python's builtin :func:`map` functions allows a function to be applied to a
sequence element-by-element. This type of code is typically trivial to
parallelize. In fact, since IPython's interface is all about functions anyway, you can just use the builtin :func:`map`, or a client's :map: method:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [62]: serial_result = map(lambda x:x**10, range(32))
In [66]: parallel_result = rc.map(lambda x: x**10, range(32))
In [67]: serial_result==parallel_result
Out[67]: True
.. note::
The client's own version of :meth:`map` or that of :class:`.DirectView` do
not do any load balancing. For a load balanced version, use a
:class:`LoadBalancedView`, or a :class:`ParallelFunction` with
`targets=None`.
.. seealso::
:meth:`map` is implemented via :class:`.ParallelFunction`.
Remote function decorator
-------------------------
Remote functions are just like normal functions, but when they are called,
they execute on one or more engines, rather than locally. IPython provides
some decorators:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [10]: @rc.remote(block=True)
....: def f(x):
....: return 10.0*x**4
....:
In [11]: map(f, range(32)) # this is done in parallel
Out[11]:
[0.0,10.0,160.0,...]
See the docstring for the :func:`parallel` and :func:`remote` decorators for
options.
Calling Python functions
========================
The most basic type of operation that can be performed on the engines is to
execute Python code or call Python functions. Executing Python code can be
done in blocking or non-blocking mode (non-blocking is default) using the
:meth:`execute` method, and calling functions can be done via the
:meth:`.View.apply` method.
Blocking execution
------------------
In blocking mode, the :class:`.DirectView` object (called ``dview`` in
these examples) submits the command to the controller, which places the
command in the engines' queues for execution. The :meth:`apply` call then
blocks until the engines are done executing the command:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [2]: rc.block=True
In [3]: dview = rc[:] # A DirectView of all engines
In [4]: dview['a'] = 5
In [5]: dview['b'] = 10
In [6]: dview.apply_bound(lambda x: a+b+x, 27)
Out[6]: {0: 42, 1: 42, 2: 42, 3: 42}
Python commands can be executed on specific engines by calling execute using
the ``targets`` keyword argument, or creating a :class:`DirectView` instance
by index-access to the client:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [6]: rc.execute('c=a+b',targets=[0,2])
In [7]: rc.execute('c=a-b',targets=[1,3])
In [8]: rc[:]['c']
Out[8]: {0: 15, 1: -5, 2: 15, 3: -5}
.. note::
Note that every call to ``rc.<meth>(...,targets=x)`` can be made via
``rc[<x>].<meth>(...)``, which constructs a View object. The only place
where this differs in in :meth:`apply`. The :class:`Client` takes many
arguments to apply, so it requires `args` and `kwargs` to be passed as
individual arguments. Extended options such as `bound`,`targets`, and
`block` are controlled by the attributes of the :class:`View` objects, so
they can provide the much more convenient
:meth:`View.apply(f,*args,**kwargs)`, which simply calls
``f(*args,**kwargs)`` remotely.
This example also shows one of the most important things about the IPython
engines: they have a persistent user namespaces. The :meth:`apply` method can
be run in either a bound or unbound way. The default for a View is to be
unbound, unless called by the :meth:`apply_bound` method:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [9]: rc[:]['b'] = 5 # assign b to 5 everywhere
In [10]: v0 = rc[0]
In [12]: v0.apply_bound(lambda : b)
Out[12]: 5
In [13]: v0.apply(lambda : b)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
RemoteError Traceback (most recent call last)
/home/you/<ipython-input-34-21a468eb10f0> in <module>()
----> 1 v0.apply(lambda : b)
...
RemoteError: NameError(global name 'b' is not defined)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Users/minrk/dev/ip/mine/IPython/zmq/parallel/streamkernel.py", line 294, in apply_request
exec code in working, working
File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
File "<ipython-input-34-21a468eb10f0>", line 1, in <lambda>
NameError: global name 'b' is not defined
Specifically, `bound=True` specifies that the engine's namespace is to be used
for execution, and `bound=False` specifies that the engine's namespace is not
to be used (hence, 'b' is undefined during unbound execution, since the
function is called in an empty namespace). Unbound execution is often useful
for large numbers of atomic tasks, which prevents bloating the engine's
memory, while bound execution lets you build on your previous work.
Non-blocking execution
----------------------
In non-blocking mode, :meth:`apply` submits the command to be executed and
then returns a :class:`AsyncResult` object immediately. The
:class:`AsyncResult` object gives you a way of getting a result at a later
time through its :meth:`get` method.
.. Note::
The :class:`AsyncResult` object provides the exact same interface as
:py:class:`multiprocessing.pool.AsyncResult`. See the
`official Python documentation <http://docs.python.org/library/multiprocessing#multiprocessing.pool.AsyncResult>`_
for more.
This allows you to quickly submit long running commands without blocking your
local Python/IPython session:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
# define our function
In [35]: def wait(t):
....: import time
....: tic = time.time()
....: time.sleep(t)
....: return time.time()-tic
# In blocking mode
In [6]: rc.apply('import time')
# In non-blocking mode
In [7]: pr = rc[:].apply_async(wait, 2)
# Now block for the result
In [8]: pr.get()
Out[8]: [2.0006198883056641, 1.9997570514678955, 1.9996809959411621, 2.0003249645233154]
# Again in non-blocking mode
In [9]: pr = rc[:].apply_async(wait, 10)
# Poll to see if the result is ready
In [10]: pr.ready()
Out[10]: False
# ask for the result, but wait a maximum of 1 second:
In [45]: pr.get(1)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TimeoutError Traceback (most recent call last)
/home/you/<ipython-input-45-7cd858bbb8e0> in <module>()
----> 1 pr.get(1)
/path/to/site-packages/IPython/zmq/parallel/asyncresult.pyc in get(self, timeout)
62 raise self._exception
63 else:
---> 64 raise error.TimeoutError("Result not ready.")
65
66 def ready(self):
TimeoutError: Result not ready.
.. Note::
Note the import inside the function. This is a common model, to ensure
that the appropriate modules are imported where the task is run.
Often, it is desirable to wait until a set of :class:`AsyncResult` objects
are done. For this, there is a the method :meth:`barrier`. This method takes a
tuple of :class:`AsyncResult` objects (or `msg_ids`) and blocks until all of the associated
results are ready:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [72]: rc.block=False
# A trivial list of AsyncResults objects
In [73]: pr_list = [rc[:].apply_async(wait, 3) for i in range(10)]
# Wait until all of them are done
In [74]: rc.barrier(pr_list)
# Then, their results are ready using get_result or the r attribute
In [75]: pr_list[0].get()
Out[75]: [2.9982571601867676, 2.9982588291168213, 2.9987530708312988, 2.9990990161895752]
The ``block`` and ``targets`` keyword arguments and attributes
--------------------------------------------------------------
.. warning::
This is different now, I haven't updated this section.
-MinRK
Most methods(like :meth:`apply`) accept
``block`` and ``targets`` as keyword arguments. As we have seen above, these
keyword arguments control the blocking mode and which engines the command is
applied to. The :class:`Client` class also has :attr:`block` and
:attr:`targets` attributes that control the default behavior when the keyword
arguments are not provided. Thus the following logic is used for :attr:`block`
and :attr:`targets`:
* If no keyword argument is provided, the instance attributes are used.
* Keyword argument, if provided override the instance attributes.
The following examples demonstrate how to use the instance attributes:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [16]: rc.targets = [0,2]
In [17]: rc.block = False
In [18]: pr = rc.execute('a=5')
In [19]: pr.r
Out[19]:
<Results List>
[0] In [6]: a=5
[2] In [6]: a=5
# Note targets='all' means all engines
In [20]: rc.targets = 'all'
In [21]: rc.block = True
In [22]: rc.execute('b=10; print b')
Out[22]:
<Results List>
[0] In [7]: b=10; print b
[0] Out[7]: 10
[1] In [6]: b=10; print b
[1] Out[6]: 10
[2] In [7]: b=10; print b
[2] Out[7]: 10
[3] In [6]: b=10; print b
[3] Out[6]: 10
The :attr:`block` and :attr:`targets` instance attributes also determine the
behavior of the parallel magic commands.
Parallel magic commands
-----------------------
.. warning::
The magics have not been changed to work with the zeromq system. ``%px``
and ``%autopx`` do work, but ``%result`` does not. %px and %autopx *do
not* print stdin/out.
We provide a few IPython magic commands (``%px``, ``%autopx`` and ``%result``)
that make it more pleasant to execute Python commands on the engines
interactively. These are simply shortcuts to :meth:`execute` and
:meth:`get_result`. The ``%px`` magic executes a single Python command on the
engines specified by the :attr:`targets` attribute of the
:class:`MultiEngineClient` instance (by default this is ``'all'``):
.. sourcecode:: ipython
# Create a DirectView for all targets
In [22]: dv = rc[:]
# Make this DirectView active for parallel magic commands
In [23]: dv.activate()
In [24]: dv.block=True
In [25]: import numpy
In [26]: %px import numpy
Parallel execution on engines: [0, 1, 2, 3]
Out[26]:{0: None, 1: None, 2: None, 3: None}
In [27]: %px a = numpy.random.rand(2,2)
Parallel execution on engines: [0, 1, 2, 3]
In [28]: %px ev = numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
Parallel execution on engines: [0, 1, 2, 3]
In [28]: dv['ev']
Out[44]: {0: array([ 1.09522024, -0.09645227]),
1: array([ 1.21435496, -0.35546712]),
2: array([ 0.72180653, 0.07133042]),
3: array([ 1.46384341e+00, 1.04353244e-04])}
.. Note::
``%result`` doesn't work
The ``%result`` magic gets and prints the stdin/stdout/stderr of the last
command executed on each engine. It is simply a shortcut to the
:meth:`get_result` method:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [29]: %result
Out[29]:
<Results List>
[0] In [10]: print numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
[0] Out[10]: [ 1.28167017 0.14197338]
[1] In [9]: print numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
[1] Out[9]: [-0.14093616 1.27877273]
[2] In [10]: print numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
[2] Out[10]: [-0.37023573 1.06779409]
[3] In [9]: print numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
[3] Out[9]: [ 0.83664764 -0.25602658]
The ``%autopx`` magic switches to a mode where everything you type is executed
on the engines given by the :attr:`targets` attribute:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [30]: dv.block=False
In [31]: %autopx
Auto Parallel Enabled
Type %autopx to disable
In [32]: max_evals = []
<IPython.zmq.parallel.asyncresult.AsyncResult object at 0x17b8a70>
In [33]: for i in range(100):
....: a = numpy.random.rand(10,10)
....: a = a+a.transpose()
....: evals = numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
....: max_evals.append(evals[0].real)
....:
....:
<IPython.zmq.parallel.asyncresult.AsyncResult object at 0x17af8f0>
In [34]: %autopx
Auto Parallel Disabled
In [35]: dv.block=True
In [36]: px ans= "Average max eigenvalue is: %f"%(sum(max_evals)/len(max_evals))
Parallel execution on engines: [0, 1, 2, 3]
In [37]: dv['ans']
Out[37]: {0 : 'Average max eigenvalue is: 10.1387247332',
1 : 'Average max eigenvalue is: 10.2076902286',
2 : 'Average max eigenvalue is: 10.1891484655',
3 : 'Average max eigenvalue is: 10.1158837784',}
.. Note::
Multiline ``%autpx`` gets fouled up by NameErrors, because IPython
currently introspects too much.
Moving Python objects around
============================
In addition to calling functions and executing code on engines, you can
transfer Python objects to and from your IPython session and the engines. In
IPython, these operations are called :meth:`push` (sending an object to the
engines) and :meth:`pull` (getting an object from the engines).
Basic push and pull
-------------------
Here are some examples of how you use :meth:`push` and :meth:`pull`:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [38]: rc.push(dict(a=1.03234,b=3453))
Out[38]: {0: None, 1: None, 2: None, 3: None}
In [39]: rc.pull('a')
Out[39]: {0: 1.03234, 1: 1.03234, 2: 1.03234, 3: 1.03234}
In [40]: rc.pull('b',targets=0)
Out[40]: 3453
In [41]: rc.pull(('a','b'))
Out[41]: {0: [1.03234, 3453], 1: [1.03234, 3453], 2: [1.03234, 3453], 3:[1.03234, 3453]}
# zmq client does not have zip_pull
In [42]: rc.zip_pull(('a','b'))
Out[42]: [(1.03234, 1.03234, 1.03234, 1.03234), (3453, 3453, 3453, 3453)]
In [43]: rc.push(dict(c='speed'))
Out[43]: {0: None, 1: None, 2: None, 3: None}
In non-blocking mode :meth:`push` and :meth:`pull` also return
:class:`AsyncResult` objects:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [47]: rc.block=False
In [48]: pr = rc.pull('a')
In [49]: pr.get()
Out[49]: [1.03234, 1.03234, 1.03234, 1.03234]
Dictionary interface
--------------------
Since a namespace is just a :class:`dict`, :class:`DirectView` objects provide
dictionary-style access by key and methods such as :meth:`get` and
:meth:`update` for convenience. This make the remote namespaces of the engines
appear as a local dictionary. Underneath, this uses :meth:`push` and
:meth:`pull`:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [50]: rc.block=True
In [51]: rc[:]['a']=['foo','bar']
In [52]: rc[:]['a']
Out[52]: {0: ['foo', 'bar'], 1: ['foo', 'bar'], 2: ['foo', 'bar'], 3: ['foo', 'bar']}
Scatter and gather
------------------
Sometimes it is useful to partition a sequence and push the partitions to
different engines. In MPI language, this is know as scatter/gather and we
follow that terminology. However, it is important to remember that in
IPython's :class:`Client` class, :meth:`scatter` is from the
interactive IPython session to the engines and :meth:`gather` is from the
engines back to the interactive IPython session. For scatter/gather operations
between engines, MPI should be used:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [58]: rc.scatter('a',range(16))
Out[58]: {0: None, 1: None, 2: None, 3: None}
In [59]: rc[:]['a']
Out[59]: {0: [0, 1, 2, 3],
1: [4, 5, 6, 7],
2: [8, 9, 10, 11],
3: [12, 13, 14, 15]}
In [60]: rc.gather('a')
Out[60]: [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]
Other things to look at
=======================
How to do parallel list comprehensions
--------------------------------------
In many cases list comprehensions are nicer than using the map function. While
we don't have fully parallel list comprehensions, it is simple to get the
basic effect using :meth:`scatter` and :meth:`gather`:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [66]: rc.scatter('x',range(64))
Out[66]: {0: None, 1: None, 2: None, 3: None}
In [67]: px y = [i**10 for i in x]
Executing command on Controller
Out[67]:
In [68]: y = rc.gather('y')
In [69]: print y
[0, 1, 1024, 59049, 1048576, 9765625, 60466176, 282475249, 1073741824,...]
Parallel exceptions
-------------------
In the multiengine interface, parallel commands can raise Python exceptions,
just like serial commands. But, it is a little subtle, because a single
parallel command can actually raise multiple exceptions (one for each engine
the command was run on). To express this idea, the MultiEngine interface has a
:exc:`CompositeError` exception class that will be raised in most cases. The
:exc:`CompositeError` class is a special type of exception that wraps one or
more other types of exceptions. Here is how it works:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [76]: rc.block=True
In [77]: rc.execute('1/0')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
CompositeError Traceback (most recent call last)
/ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<ipython console> in <module>()
/ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/multiengineclient.pyc in execute(self, lines, targets, block)
432 targets, block = self._findTargetsAndBlock(targets, block)
433 result = blockingCallFromThread(self.smultiengine.execute, lines,
--> 434 targets=targets, block=block)
435 if block:
436 result = ResultList(result)
/ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/twistedutil.pyc in blockingCallFromThread(f, *a, **kw)
72 result.raiseException()
73 except Exception, e:
---> 74 raise e
75 return result
76
CompositeError: one or more exceptions from call to method: execute
[0:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
[1:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
[2:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
[3:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
Notice how the error message printed when :exc:`CompositeError` is raised has
information about the individual exceptions that were raised on each engine.
If you want, you can even raise one of these original exceptions:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [80]: try:
....: rc.execute('1/0')
....: except client.CompositeError, e:
....: e.raise_exception()
....:
....:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ZeroDivisionError Traceback (most recent call last)
/ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<ipython console> in <module>()
/ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/error.pyc in raise_exception(self, excid)
156 raise IndexError("an exception with index %i does not exist"%excid)
157 else:
--> 158 raise et, ev, etb
159
160 def collect_exceptions(rlist, method):
ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
If you are working in IPython, you can simple type ``%debug`` after one of
these :exc:`CompositeError` exceptions is raised, and inspect the exception
instance:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [81]: rc.execute('1/0')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
CompositeError Traceback (most recent call last)
/ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<ipython console> in <module>()
/ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/multiengineclient.pyc in execute(self, lines, targets, block)
432 targets, block = self._findTargetsAndBlock(targets, block)
433 result = blockingCallFromThread(self.smultiengine.execute, lines,
--> 434 targets=targets, block=block)
435 if block:
436 result = ResultList(result)
/ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/twistedutil.pyc in blockingCallFromThread(f, *a, **kw)
72 result.raiseException()
73 except Exception, e:
---> 74 raise e
75 return result
76
CompositeError: one or more exceptions from call to method: execute
[0:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
[1:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
[2:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
[3:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
In [82]: %debug
>
/ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/twistedutil.py(74)blockingCallFromThread()
73 except Exception, e:
---> 74 raise e
75 return result
# With the debugger running, e is the exceptions instance. We can tab complete
# on it and see the extra methods that are available.
ipdb> e.
e.__class__ e.__getitem__ e.__new__ e.__setstate__ e.args
e.__delattr__ e.__getslice__ e.__reduce__ e.__str__ e.elist
e.__dict__ e.__hash__ e.__reduce_ex__ e.__weakref__ e.message
e.__doc__ e.__init__ e.__repr__ e._get_engine_str e.print_tracebacks
e.__getattribute__ e.__module__ e.__setattr__ e._get_traceback e.raise_exception
ipdb> e.print_tracebacks()
[0:execute]:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ZeroDivisionError Traceback (most recent call last)
/ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<string> in <module>()
ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
[1:execute]:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ZeroDivisionError Traceback (most recent call last)
/ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<string> in <module>()
ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
[2:execute]:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ZeroDivisionError Traceback (most recent call last)
/ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<string> in <module>()
ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
[3:execute]:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ZeroDivisionError Traceback (most recent call last)
/ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<string> in <module>()
ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
.. note::
The above example appears to be broken right now because of a change in
how we are using Twisted.
All of this same error handling magic even works in non-blocking mode:
.. sourcecode:: ipython
In [83]: rc.block=False
In [84]: pr = rc.execute('1/0')
In [85]: pr.get()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
CompositeError Traceback (most recent call last)
/ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<ipython console> in <module>()
/ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/multiengineclient.pyc in _get_r(self)
170
171 def _get_r(self):
--> 172 return self.get_result(block=True)
173
174 r = property(_get_r)
/ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/multiengineclient.pyc in get_result(self, default, block)
131 return self.result
132 try:
--> 133 result = self.client.get_pending_deferred(self.result_id, block)
134 except error.ResultNotCompleted:
135 return default
/ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/multiengineclient.pyc in get_pending_deferred(self, deferredID, block)
385
386 def get_pending_deferred(self, deferredID, block):
--> 387 return blockingCallFromThread(self.smultiengine.get_pending_deferred, deferredID, block)
388
389 def barrier(self, pendingResults):
/ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/twistedutil.pyc in blockingCallFromThread(f, *a, **kw)
72 result.raiseException()
73 except Exception, e:
---> 74 raise e
75 return result
76
CompositeError: one or more exceptions from call to method: execute
[0:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
[1:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
[2:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
[3:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero