The integration of heterogeneous resources in the CMS Submission Infrastructure for the LHC Run 3 and beyond

TL;DR

This paper discusses how the CMS Submission Infrastructure is evolving to efficiently utilize diverse heterogeneous computing resources, including CPUs with different architectures and GPUs, to support future LHC data processing needs.

Contribution

It presents the updated capabilities of the CMS Submission Infrastructure to support heterogeneous resources, including validation of Power9 processors and GPU integration.

Findings

Power9 processors validated for CMS production

GPU resources are being used at CMS WLCG sites

Infrastructure updates enable better resource utilization

Abstract

While the computing landscape supporting LHC experiments is currently dominated by x86 processors at WLCG sites, this configuration will evolve in the coming years. LHC collaborations will be increasingly employing HPC and Cloud facilities to process the vast amounts of data expected during the LHC Run 3 and the future HL-LHC phase. These facilities often feature diverse compute resources, including alternative CPU architectures like ARM and IBM Power, as well as a variety of GPU specifications. Using these heterogeneous resources efficiently is thus essential for the LHC collaborations reaching their future scientific goals. The Submission Infrastructure (SI) is a central element in CMS Computing, enabling resource acquisition and exploitation by CMS data processing, simulation and analysis tasks. The SI must therefore be adapted to ensure access and optimal utilization of this heterogeneous compute capacity. Some steps in this evolution have been already taken, as CMS is currently using opportunistically a small pool of GPU slots provided mainly at the CMS WLCG sites. Additionally, Power9 processors have been validated for CMS production at the Marconi-100 cluster at CINECA. This note will describe the updated capabilities of the SI to continue ensuring the efficient allocation and use of computing resources by CMS, despite their increasing diversity. The next steps towards a full integration and support of heterogeneous resources according to CMS needs will also be reported.