Hi John,

On Feb 10, 2011, at 5:33 PM, John Mainzer wrote:

>> From [email protected] Thu Feb 10 16:48:04 2011
>> From: Rhys Ulerich <[email protected]>
>> Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2011 16:48:22 -0600
>> To: HDF Users Discussion List <[email protected]>
>> Subject: [Hdf-forum] Question re: Howison et al Lustre mdc_config tuning 
>> recommendations
>> 
>> Good day,
>> 
>> I decided to try some metadata caching parameters related to the
>> discussion on pages 3-4 of Howison et al
>> (http://www.hdfgroup.org/pubs/papers/howison_hdf5_lustre_iasds2010.pdf).
>> The paper gives sample code as follows in Figure 5:
>> 
>>   H5AC_cache_config_t mdc_config;
>>   hid_t file_id;
>>   file_id = H5Fopen("file.h5", H5ACC_RDWR, H5P_DEFAULT);
>>   mdc_config.version = H5AC__CURR_CACHE_CONFIG_VERSION;
>>   H5Pget_mdc_config(file_id, &mdc_config)
>>   mdc_config.evictions_enabled = 0 /* FALSE */;
>>   mdc_config.incr_mode = H5C_incr__off;
>>   mdc_config.decr_mode = H5C_decr__off;
>>   H5Pset_mdc_config(file_id, &mdc_config);
>> 
>> Attempting to directly implement this fails.  Modifying the above so
>> the H5Pget_mdc_config/H5Pset_mdc_config operates on a file access
>> property list succeeds.  However, I saw runtime errors like
>> 
>> HDF5-DIAG: Error detected in HDF5 (1.8.5-patch1) MPI-process 2:
>> #000: H5Pfapl.c line 1354 in H5Pset_mdc_config(): invalid metadata
>> cache configuration
>>   major: Invalid arguments to routine
>>   minor: Bad value
>> #001: H5AC.c line 2665 in H5AC_validate_config(): Can't disable
>> evictions while auto-resize is enabled.
>>   major: Invalid arguments to routine
>>   minor: Bad value
>> 
>> which I've remedied by glancing at H5AC.c:2665 and then adding the statement
>> 
>>   mdc_config.flash_incr_mode   = H5C_flash_incr__off;
>> 
>> to the code block above.  Is this modification in the spirit of what
>> Howison et al. suggests?   Or is using H5C_flash_incr__off asking for
>> trouble in ways that the paper does not discuss?
>> 
>> Thanks for your time,
>> Rhys
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Hdf-forum is for HDF software users discussion.
>> [email protected]
>> http://mail.hdfgroup.org/mailman/listinfo/hdf-forum_hdfgroup.org
> 
> Hi Rhys,
> 
>   You did exactly as you should have.
> 
>   The metadata cache configuration in the paper worked due to an error 
> on my part when I implemented the flash cache size increment code.  I have 
> since noticed and correct the error -- hence the failure you encountered 
> when you tried to duplicate the code from the paper.

        Is this fix included in the 1.8.6 release?

        Thanks,
                Quincey

>   To give you some background:
> 
>   In its default configuration, the metadata cache in HDF5 will attempt to
> automatically adapt to the current metadata working set size in real time.  
> While there is no fundamental reason why this feature can't be active when 
> evictions are disabled, I can't think of any circumstances in which it would 
> be useful.  Further, writing the test code required to verify proper behavior 
> under these circumstances would require significant effort.
> 
>   Hence the decision to require that adaptive metadata cache resizing be 
> disabled when evictions are disabled.  Needless to say, this decision will
> be re-visited if anyone comes up with a plausible reason to do so.
> 
>                                               Best regards,
> 
>                                               John Mainzer
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Hdf-forum is for HDF software users discussion.
> [email protected]
> http://mail.hdfgroup.org/mailman/listinfo/hdf-forum_hdfgroup.org


_______________________________________________
Hdf-forum is for HDF software users discussion.
[email protected]
http://mail.hdfgroup.org/mailman/listinfo/hdf-forum_hdfgroup.org

Reply via email to