GPU-aware Communication with UCX in Parallel Programming Models: Charm++, MPI, and Python

Jaemin Choi, Zane Fink, Sam White, Nitin Bhat, David F. Richards, Laxmikant V. Kale

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

As an increasing number of leadership-class systems embrace GPU accelerators in the race towards exascale, efficient communication of GPU data is becoming one of the most critical components of high-performance computing. For developers of parallel programming models, implementing support for GPU-aware communication using native APIs for GPUs such as CUDA can be a daunting task as it requires considerable effort with little guarantee of performance. In this work, we demonstrate the capability of the Unified Communication X (UCX) framework to compose a GPU-aware communication layer that serves multiple parallel programming models of the Charm++ ecosystem: Charm++, Adaptive MPI (AMPI), and Charm4py. We demonstrate the performance impact of our designs with microbenchmarks adapted from the OSU benchmark suite, obtaining improvements in latency of up to 10.2x, 11.7x, and 17.4x in Charm++, AMPI, and Charm4py, respectively. We also observe increases in bandwidth of up to 9.6x in Charm++, 10x in AMPI, and 10.5x in Charm4py. We show the potential impact of our designs on real-world applications by evaluating a proxy application for the Jacobi iterative method, improving the communication performance by up to 12.4x in Charm++, 12.8x in AMPI, and 19.7x in Charm4py.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2021 IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium Workshops, IPDPSW 2021 - In conjunction with IEEE IPDPS 2021
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages479-488
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9781665435772
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2021
Event2021 IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium Workshops, IPDPSW 2021 - Virtual, Portland, United States
Duration: May 17 2021 → …

Publication series

Name2021 IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium Workshops, IPDPSW 2021 - In conjunction with IEEE IPDPS 2021

Conference

Conference2021 IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium Workshops, IPDPSW 2021
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Portland
Period5/17/21 → …

Keywords

  • AMPI
  • Charm++
  • Charm4py
  • CUDA-aware MPI
  • GPU communication
  • Python
  • UCX

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Information Systems

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