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Vis Inf  2018, Vol. 2 Issue (1): 98-110    DOI: 10.1016/j.visinf.2018.04.010
Original articles     
A visual analytics system for optimizing the performance of large-scale networks in supercomputing systems
TakanoriFujiwaraa, JianpingKelvinLia, MisbahMubarakb, CaitlinRossc, Christopher D.Carothersc, Robert B.Rossb, Kwan-LiuMaa
aUniversity of California, Davis, United States bArgonne National Laboratory, United States cRensselaer Polytechnic Institute, United States
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Abstract  
The overall efficiency of an extreme-scale supercomputer largely relies on the performance of its network interconnects. Several of the state of the art supercomputers use networks based on the increasingly popular Dragonfly topology. It is crucial to study the behavior and performance of different parallel applications running on Dragonfly networks in order to make optimal system configurations and design choices, such as job scheduling and routing strategies. However, in order to study these temporal network behavior, we would need a tool to analyze and correlate numerous sets of multivariate time-series data collected from the Dragonfly’s multi-level hierarchies. This paper presents such a tool–a visual analytics system–that uses the Dragonfly network to investigate the temporal behavior and optimize the communication performance of a supercomputer. We coupled interactive visualization with time-series analysis methods to help reveal hidden patterns in the network behavior with respect to different parallel applications and system configurations. Our system also provides multiple coordinated views for connecting behaviors observed at different levels of the network hierarchies, which effectively helps visual analysis tasks. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the system with a set of case studies. Our system and findings can not only help improve the communication performance of supercomputing applications, but also the network performance of next-generation supercomputers.


Key wordsSupercomputing      communication network      Dragonfly networks      Time-series data      Performance analysis      Visual analytics      
Published: 09 July 2018
Cite this article:

TakanoriFujiwara, JianpingKelvinLi, MisbahMubarak, CaitlinRoss, Christopher D.Carothers, Robert B.Ross, Kwan-LiuMa. A visual analytics system for optimizing the performance of large-scale networks in supercomputing systems. Vis Inf, 2018, 2(1): 98-110.

URL:

http://www.zjujournals.com/vi/10.1016/j.visinf.2018.04.010     OR     http://www.zjujournals.com/vi/Y2018/V2/I1/98


用于优化超级计算系统中大规模网络性能的可视分析系统

背景:超大规模超级计算机的整体效率很大程度上取决于其内部网络连接的性能。一些最先进的超级计算机的使用是基于日益流行的Dragonfly拓扑结构的网络。因此,研究和分析在Dragonfly网络上运行的不同并行应用程序的行为和性能,以便制定最佳的系统配置和设计选择(例如作业调度和路由策略),可谓至关重要。为了研究这些时序网络行为,我们需要一个工具将从Dragonfly的多层级中收集的大量多变量时间序列数据集关联起来并进行分析。

创新:本文提供了一种可视化分析系统,它使用Dragonfly网络来来分析时序行为以优化超级计算机的通信性能。我们将交互式可视化与时间序列分析方法结合起来,帮助揭示与不同的并行应用程序和系统配置相关的网络行为中的隐藏模式。我们的系统还提供多个协同视图,可将在网络中不同层次上观察到的行为关联起来,从而有效地进行可视分析。 

应用:本文通过一套案例来证明系统的有效性。我们的系统和研究结果不仅有助于提高超级计算应用的通信性能,而且还有助于提高下一代超级计算机的网络性能。

关键词: 超级计算,  并行通信网络,  蜻蜓网络,  时间序列数据,  性能分析,  视觉分析 
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