Changes between Version 26 and Version 27 of UsersGuide

Timestamp:

Oct 24, 2012 6:12:58 PM (12 years ago)

Author:

Ted Faber

Comment:

--

UsersGuide

@@ -367 +367 @@
 === More Sophisticated Packing: Multiple Passes ===
 
-The previous examples have all treated packing containers onto physical machines as a single step process with a single parameter - the packing factor.  In fact, we can divide containers into sets and pack each set independently using different parameters.  For example in an experiment with many containers dedicated only to forwarding packets and a few modeling servers, we could create two sets and pack the forwarders tightly (a high packing factor) and the servers loosely.
+The previous examples have all treated packing containers onto physical machines as a single step process with a single parameter - the packing factor.  In fact, we can divide containers into sets and pack each set independently using different parameters.  For example in an experiment with many containers dedicated only to forwarding packets and a few to  modeling servers, we could create two sets and pack the forwarders tightly (a high packing factor) and the servers loosely.
 
 In return for the greater control on packing, there is a price.  When a set of containers is packed, the containers system takes into account both the nodes to be packed and their interconnections.  When subsets of containers are packed, the system cannot consider the interconnections between subsets.  In some cases, the packing of subsets can lead to a DETER experiment that cannot be created successfully.  This danger is mitigated by the fact that containers that are packed together are often related in ways that limit the number of connections between that set and another.
@@ -452 +452 @@
 These parameters result in this packing, which fits in fewer nodes, but has the slight imbalances of splitting {{{lan-1}}} into 9 and 11 containers and {{{lan-2}}} into 4,5,and 6 container partitions.  Again, this asymmetry is an attempt to consider the internode networking costs.
 
-[[Image(example6.2-smaller)]]
+[[Image(example6.2-smaller.png)]]
 
 If the packing constraints are exact - 11 containers on {{{lan-1}}} is unacceptable - a second choice is to use the {{{--nodes-only}}} option.  This sets the cost of each arc in the graph to 0.  Metis ignores such arcs altogether, so the partitions are completely even.  This may cause trouble in more complex network topologies.
@@ -466 +466 @@
 is
 
-
+[[Image(example6.3-smaller.png)]]
+
+which has symmetric partitions.
+
+The {{{--pass-pack}}} option is a per-pass generalization of the {{{--packing}}} option.  The options that can be specified per-pass are:
+
+|| __Single-pass__ || __Per-Pass__ || __Per-Pass Format__ || __Per-Pass Example__ ||
+|| {{{--packing}}} || {{{--pass-pack}}} || ''pass'':''packing''  (comma-separated) || --pass-pack 0:1,1:20,2:11,3:6 ||
+|| {{{--pnode-types}}} || {{{--pass-pnodes}}} || ''pass'':''pnode''[,''pnode''...] (semicolon separated) || --pass-pnodes 0:MicroCloud;1:bpc2133,pc2133 ||
+|| {{{--nodes-only}}} || {{{--pass-nodes-only}}} || ''pass'' (comma-separated) || --pass-nodes-only 1,3,5 ||
+
+The single-pass version sets a default so this invocation on [attachment:example6.tcl our 4 pass topology]:
+
+{{{
+users:~$ /share/containers/containerize.py --packing 5 --pass-pack 0:1,1:20 DeterTest example6 ~/example6.tcl 
+}}}
+
+will pack pass 0 with a factor of 1, pass 1 with a factor of 20 and passes 2 and 3 with factor 5.
+
+Similarly:
+
+{{{
+users:~$ /share/containers/containerize.py --pass-pack 0:1,1:20,2:10,3:5 --pass-pnodes '0:pc2133,bpc2133;1:MicroCloud' DeterTest example6 ~/example6.tcl 
+}}}
+
+will allocate either bpc2133 or pc2133 nodes to containers assigned by pass 0 and Microcloud physical nodes to the containers partitioned in pass 1.  The rest will be allocated as the [ReferenceGuide#SiteConfigurationFile site configuration] specifies.  The single quotes around the {{{--pass-pnodes}}} option protects the semi-colon from the shell.  Another choice is to specify the command as:
+
+{{{
+users:~$ /share/containers/containerize.py --pass-pack 0:1,1:20,2:10,3:5 --pass-pnodes 0:pc2133,bpc2133 --pass-pnodes 1:MicroCloud DeterTest example6 ~/example6.tcl 
+}}}
+
+That formulation avoids the quotes by avoiding the semicolon.  All the per-pass options may be specified multiple times on the command line.
+
+These per-pass variables and user-specified pass specifications give users fine grained control over the paritioning process, even if they do not want to do the partitioning themselves.
+
+If no {{{containers:PartitionPass}}} attributes are specified in the topology, and no {{{containers:Partition}}} attributes are specified either, {{{containerize.py}} carries out at most two passes.  Pass 0 paritions all openvz containers and pass 1 partitions all qemu and process containers.
 
 == Further Reading ==