[Mesa-users] Experience with Docker Container and r 11554

Rob Farmer r.j.farmer at uva.nl
Mon Apr 15 03:47:40 EDT 2019


Hi Ian,

Thanks for the suggestion, while i think about what is the best way for
MESA  to do this, you would probably want to consider Micheal's suggestion
of reading /proc/meminfo over using execute_command_line(). The issue with
execute_command_line is that it calls fork() which can lead to memory
exhaustion, depending on how much you can overcommit your memory. See some
of the previous mesa-user issues when we called the shell's mv and mkdir
via execute_command_line. As such we stopped using execute_command_line()
in MESA and switched to a c-based syscall interface to call mv and mkdir.

Rob

On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 at 00:45, Ian Foley via Mesa-users <
mesa-users at lists.mesastar.org> wrote:

> Thanks Michael!
>
> Ian
>
>
> On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 at 08:21, Michael Ashley <m.ashley at unsw.edu.au> wrote:
>
>> Hi Ian,
>>
>> Another way of obtaining the amount of free memory on a Linux system is
>> to read the file /proc/meminfo.
>>
>> If you use the "free" command, note the "-t" switch which calculates the
>> total for you.
>>
>> Regards, Michael
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 15, 2019 at 07:41:28AM +1000, Ian Foley via Mesa-users wrote:
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I thought it might be valuable for those users using MESA on limited
>> memory
>> > computers for those using r 11554. My computer has 8GB RAM and I am
>> also using
>> > the docker container on Windows 10 Professional. This release of MESA
>> adds
>> > additional EOS data files and these can test available memory to the
>> limit and
>> > can be turned off if necessary. But I wanted to use them if possible.
>> >
>> > This release of MESA adds the inlist "num_steps_for_garbage_collection"
>> which
>> > defaults to 1000 and is useful to remove EOS data which is no longer
>> needed and
>> > taking up too much memory. The problem is that it can happen that the
>> added EOS
>> > data files can total near to 1 GB within 100 steps. If we set garbage
>> > collection to occur every 100 steps it makes a significant performance
>> hit as
>> > the re-allocation of large EOS data files takes time. It is also true
>> that much
>> > of the evolution does not require a big jump in EOS data.
>> >
>> > Much better would be to track free memory and activate garbage
>> collection when
>> > it gets to < 1GB. The code below which can be added to run_star_extras
>> achieves
>> > this and I have found it very useful.
>> >
>> >          ! For version 10398 and onwards
>> >          ! For version 11554 onwards there is an inlist to do garbage
>> > collection. Default 1000 models.
>> >          ! However, this is fixed setting and will often lead to extra
>> cost
>> > when doing the garbage
>> >          ! collection. So now we track memory and only do garbage
>> collection
>> > when memory is less than
>> >          ! a certain minimum. This routine will free all the eos memory
>> then
>> > re-initialize it,
>> >          ! when mesa takes the next step it will reload only the eos
>> data mesa
>> > needs then.
>> >          ! Garbage collection code courtesy of Rob Farmer, 18 April 2018
>> >
>> > if (mod(s% model_number,100)==0) then
>> >           write(*,*) 'Process id ',getpid()
>> >           write(*,*) 'Output from Linux free command'
>> >           call execute_command_line('free >memory.txt')
>> >           call execute_command_line('free')
>> >           open(100,file='memory.txt',status='old',iostat=ierr)
>> >           read(100,*) string3
>> >           read(100,'(a8,6i12)') string1,int1, int2, int3, int4, int5,
>> int6
>> >           read(100,'(a7,3i12)') string2,int7, int8, int9
>> >           close(100)
>> >           free = int3 + int9
>> >           write(*,*) 'Model ', s% model_number
>> >           write(*,*) 'Total free memory = ',free
>> >           if (free < 1000000) then
>> >             write(*,*) 'Do garbage collection'
>> >             call eos_shutdown()
>> >             call eos_init(s% job% eos_file_prefix,s% job%
>> eosDT_cache_dir,&
>> >                  s% job% eosPT_cache_dir, &
>> >                  s% job% eosDE_cache_dir, .true.,ierr)
>> >             call execute_command_line('free')
>> >           endif
>> >          endif
>> >
>> > Since there is no fortran command (or other language command) to find
>> free
>> > memory what we do above is to execute the Linux free command every 100
>> steps
>> > redirecting its output to a text file. Then we open the text file and
>> parse its
>> > content to retrieve the amount of free memory. If its <1GB we activate
>> garbage
>> > collection (using code originally from Rob Farmer - thanks).
>> >
>> > I hope this will be useful to some
>> >
>> > Kind regards
>> > Ian
>> >
>> >
>> > [uc]
>> >
>> >
>> > On Tue, 19 Mar 2019 at 09:21, Ian Foley <ifoley2008 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >     Thanks for your advice.
>> >
>> >     Ian
>> >
>> >     On Tue, 19 Mar 2019 at 8:01 am, Evan Bauer <ebauer at physics.ucsb.edu>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> >         Hi Ian,
>> >
>> >         Increasing the frequency of garbage collection sounds like a
>> good idea
>> >         to me, especially if your star is evolving through new EOS
>> regions
>> >         quickly. There really isn’t much downside to this other than a
>> small
>> >         speed hit.
>> >
>> >         If you’re very memory constrained and want to go back to the
>> old way of
>> >         doing things, you also have the option of turning off the new
>> EOS
>> >         tables with
>> >         use_eosDT2 = .false.
>> >         use_eosELM = .false.
>> >
>> >         Cheers,
>> >         Evan
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >             On Mar 18, 2019, at 10:46 AM, Ian Foley <
>> ifoley2008 at gmail.com>
>> >             wrote:
>> >
>> >             Thanks Rob for the detailed explanation. I will follow your
>> >             suggestion and check for memory leaks. btw I'm using
>> Windows 10
>> >             Professional.
>> >
>> >             I may also have to increase the frequency of garbage
>> collection to
>> >             avoid a crash. 2GB is a lot more memory to need in 400
>> models when
>> >             we are a long way into the evolution and I have a limit of
>> 8GB of
>> >             real memory.
>> >
>> >             Kind regards
>> >             ian
>> >             [uc]
>> >
>> >
>> >             On Mon, 18 Mar 2019 at 20:49, Rob Farmer <r.j.farmer at uva.nl>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> >                 Hi,
>> >                 >
>> >                 Num EOS files loaded       13000           7
>>  0
>> >                   17          12          17
>> >                  Num EOS files loaded       13001           0
>>  0
>> >                     10           4          17
>> >
>> >                 The ordering of the numbers is in line 410 in star/job/
>> >                 run_star_support.f90,
>> >
>> >                 write(*,*) "Num EOS files loaded", s%model_number,
>> num_DT,
>> >                 num_PT, &
>> >                                               num_DT2, num_PTEH, num_ELM
>> >
>> >                 So its telling you how many of each type of eos is
>> currently
>> >                 loaded into memory. Then by comparing the before and
>> after the
>> >                 garbage collection we can see whether we removed any
>> eos files.
>> >
>> >                 So in you case we removed 7 eosDT files, 7 eosDT2
>> files, 8 PTEH
>> >                 files and no ELM or PT files. This is only meant as a
>> >                 diagnostic but does show that in this case you removed
>> ~40% of
>> >                 the loaded eos files which should be a good memory
>> saving.
>> >
>> >                 >What amazed me was that between model 12460 and 12810
>> MESA has
>> >                 needed nearly 2 MB of memory! which it has had to grab
>> from the
>> >                 swap space leaving less than 1MB available. That seems
>> a huge
>> >                 amount over a short evolution period. (1475904 to
>> 3373664)
>> >
>> >                 I assume you meant GB here? What is likely happening is
>> your
>> >                 model is entering a new region of parameter space so we
>> need to
>> >                 load in more eos data files.
>> >
>> >                 But to check that its not a memory leak, run the model
>> once up
>> >                 to some model number and record the ~memory used at the
>> end.
>> >                 Then do a restart from say a 1000 steps before the end
>> and
>> >                 record its memory usage at the end. If there ~same then
>> that is
>> >                 just normal mesa memory usage for this problem. If the
>> first
>> >                 run uses alot more memory then we have leaked memory
>> somewhere.
>> >
>> >                 Also are you using the windows home (or pro?) docker
>> container?
>> >                 If home, you can configure the memory it uses, if you
>> look in
>> >                 the win_home_dockerMESA.sh file at the docker-machine
>> create
>> >                 line you can configure the memory it has with
>> >                 --virtualbox-memory=2048 (in mb). You may need to
>> delete the
>> >                 old virtual machine first with the
>> utils/uninstall_win_home.sh
>> >                 script if you change the memory value.
>> >
>> >                 Rob
>> >
>> >
>> >                 On Mon, 18 Mar 2019 at 04:31, Ian Foley via Mesa-users <
>> >                 mesa-users at lists.mesastar.org> wrote:
>> >
>> >                     Hi Evan,
>> >
>> >                     Thanks for setting up r11554 in the MESA-Docker
>> container.
>> >                     I have deleted older versions as you suggested.
>> Everything
>> >                     seems to be working well except in an inlist for a
>> 1M model
>> >                     evolution it crashed in a way like running out of
>> memory
>> >                     near model 13000. I've attached files I think
>> sufficient
>> >                     for you to reproduce the effect.
>> >
>> >                     Memory is cleaned up at model 12,000 and 13,000
>> because of
>> >                     the following setting. I might have been able to
>> prevent
>> >                     the crash by decreasing this setting.
>> >                           num_steps_for_garbage_collection = 1000
>> >                           report_garbage_collection = .true.
>> >                     After the crash, I restarted the run at model
>> 12,000 and
>> >                     since I modified "re" and "rn" to run star in the
>> >                     background, I can monitor the memory with "free". I
>> entered
>> >                     the model number in the terminal so I can record
>> when I
>> >                     executed "free".
>> >
>> >                     What amazed me was that between model 12460 and
>> 12810 MESA
>> >                     has needed nearly 2 MB of memory! which it has had
>> to grab
>> >                     from the swap space leaving less than 1MB
>> available. That
>> >                     seems a huge amount over a short evolution period.
>> (1475904
>> >                     to 3373664)
>> >
>> >                     This is the report garbage collection output at
>> model
>> >                     13000. I haven't yet gone to the source code to
>> find out
>> >                     what the number mean.
>> >
>> >                      Num EOS files loaded       13000           7
>>      0
>> >                             17          12          17
>> >                      Num EOS files loaded       13001           0
>>      0
>> >                             10           4          17
>> >
>> >                     Terminal output for run from model 12000 to 13010.
>> >
>> >                     docker at a9e770e1dc66:~/docker_work/1M$ 12450
>> >                     -bash: 450: command not found
>> >                     docker at a9e770e1dc66:~/docker_work/1M$ free
>> >                                   total        used        free
>> shared
>> >                     buff/cache   available
>> >                     Mem:        3056888     2885884       84456
>>    0
>> >                        86548       30556
>> >                     Swap:       4194300     1475904     2718396
>> >                     docker at a9e770e1dc66:~/docker_work/1M$ 12460
>> >                     -bash: 12460: command not found
>> >                     docker at a9e770e1dc66:~/docker_work/1M$ 12810
>> >                     -bash: 12810: command not found
>> >                     docker at a9e770e1dc66:~/docker_work/1M$ free
>> >                                   total        used        free
>> shared
>> >                     buff/cache   available
>> >                     Mem:        3056888     2895980       76212
>>    0
>> >                        84696       21444
>> >                     Swap:       4194300     3373664      820636
>> >                     docker at a9e770e1dc66:~/docker_work/1M$ 12900
>> >                     -bash: 12900: command not found
>> >                     docker at a9e770e1dc66:~/docker_work/1M$ free
>> >                                   total        used        free
>> shared
>> >                     buff/cache   available
>> >                     Mem:        3056888     2893880       69184
>>    0
>> >                        93824       18968
>> >                     Swap:       4194300     3348584      845716
>> >                     docker at a9e770e1dc66:~/docker_work/1M$ 12990
>> >                     -bash: 12990: command not found
>> >                     docker at a9e770e1dc66:~/docker_work/1M$ free
>> >                                   total        used        free
>> shared
>> >                     buff/cache   available
>> >                     docker at a9e770e1dc66:~/docker_work/1M$ free
>> >                                   total        used        free
>> shared
>> >                     buff/cache   available
>> >                     Mem:        3056888     2883048       79752
>>    0
>> >                        94088       29472
>> >                     Swap:       4194300     3935380      258920
>> >                     docker at a9e770e1dc66:~/docker_work/1M$ 13010
>> >                     -bash: 13010: command not found
>> >                     docker at a9e770e1dc66:~/docker_work/1M$ free
>> >                                   total        used        free
>> shared
>> >                     buff/cache   available
>> >                     Mem:        3056888     2905660       75560
>>    0
>> >                        75668       16104
>> >                     Swap:       4194300     2024256     2170044
>> >
>> >                     The use of such a large memory chunk in such a
>> short number
>> >                     of models is what is concerning me. Should I expect
>> this
>> >                     with r11554 or is there some bug?
>> >
>> >                     Attached files re2.txt is the redirected terminal
>> output
>> >                     The photo is for model 12,000 used for the restart
>> on my
>> >                     Windows 10 Professional software environment.
>> >                     I hope that is all you need.
>> >
>> >                     kind regards
>> >                     Ian
>> >
>> >
>> >                     On Sun, 17 Mar 2019 at 06:34, Evan Bauer <
>> >                     ebauer at physics.ucsb.edu> wrote:
>> >
>> >                         Hi Ian,
>> >
>> >                         11554 should be ready to go if you just “git
>> pull” in
>> >                         the MESA-docker repository to update. Let me
>> know if
>> >                         that isn’t working for you. I definitely
>> recommend the
>> >                         upgrade.
>> >
>> >                         While you’re at it, I’ll also remind you that
>> it’s
>> >                         probably a good idea to clean up your older
>> docker
>> >                         images to save hard drive space. You can remove
>> the
>> >                         image of 11532 with this command:
>> >                         docker rmi evbauer/mesa_lean:11532.01
>> >
>> >                         You can also check what other older images
>> might be
>> >                         sitting around (and how much space they’re
>> using) with
>> >                         this command:
>> >                         docker images
>> >
>> >                         If you’re not regularly using the older MESA
>> versions
>> >                         in those images, you should probably get rid of
>> them
>> >                         too with the “docker rmi” command.
>> >
>> >                         Cheers,
>> >                         Evan
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >                     _______________________________________________
>> >                     mesa-users at lists.mesastar.org
>> >
>> https://lists.mesastar.org/mailman/listinfo/mesa-users
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > mesa-users at lists.mesastar.org
>> > https://lists.mesastar.org/mailman/listinfo/mesa-users
>> >
>>
>>
>> --
>> Professor Michael Ashley                   Department of Astrophysics
>> University of New South Wales       http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mcba
>>
> --
> _______________________________________________
> mesa-users at lists.mesastar.org
> https://lists.mesastar.org/mailman/listinfo/mesa-users
>
>
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