Experimentation Procedure for Offloaded Mini-Apps Executed on Cluster Architectures with Xeon Phi Accelerators

TL;DR

This paper presents an experimentation procedure for capturing and analyzing performance data of mini-apps running on heterogeneous clusters with Xeon Phi accelerators, aiding users in understanding complex device interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive methodology for measuring and analyzing timing, power, and performance data on Xeon Phi-based heterogeneous systems, tailored for end-user investigation.

Findings

Effective data capture tools for heterogeneous architectures

Insights into device interaction during mini-app execution

Guidelines for performance analysis on Xeon Phi clusters

Abstract

A heterogeneous cluster architecture is complex. It contains hundreds, or thousands of devices connected by a tiered communication system in order to solve a problem. As a heterogeneous system, these devices will have varying performance capabilities. To better understand the interactions which occur between the various devices during execution, an experimentation procedure has been devised to capture, store, and analyze important and meaningful data. The procedure consists of various tools, techniques, and methods for capturing relevant timing, power, and performance data for a typical execution. This procedure currently applies to architectures with Intel Xeon processors and Intel Xeon Phi accelerators. It has been applied to the Co-Design Molecular Dynamics mini-app, courtesy of the ExMatEx team. This work aims to provide end-users with a strategy for investigating codes executed on heterogeneous cluster architectures with Xeon Phi accelerators.