Update DDP Tutorial to remove Single-Process Multi-Device Use Case

mrshenli · mrshenli · commit 5ca59d7ef634 · 2020-04-28T19:33:04.000-07:00
As we do not recommend using Single-Process Multi-Device mode with
DDP due to the reduced throughput and as this mode is broken in
v1.5, added this PR to update DDP tutorial to using Multi-Process
Single-Device mode.

This PR also includes the following minor fixes:

1. highlight that this tutorial requires at least 8 GPUs to run
2. added a pointer to RPC
3. added a pointer to torchelastic
4. as DDP now broadcast initial param values from rank 0 to others
   it no longer require setting RNG seed.
diff --git a/intermediate_source/ddp_tutorial.rst b/intermediate_source/ddp_tutorial.rst
@@ -2,46 +2,54 @@ Getting Started with Distributed Data Parallel
 =================================================
 **Author**: `Shen Li <https://mrshenli.github.io/>`_
 
-`DistributedDataParallel <https://pytorch.org/docs/stable/_modules/torch/nn/parallel/distributed.html>`__
-(DDP) implements data parallelism at the module level. It uses communication
-collectives in the `torch.distributed <https://pytorch.org/tutorials/intermediate/dist_tuto.html>`__
-package to synchronize gradients, parameters, and buffers. Parallelism is
-available both within a process and across processes. Within a process, DDP
-replicates the input module to devices specified in ``device_ids``, scatters
-inputs along the batch dimension accordingly, and gathers outputs to the
-``output_device``, which is similar to
-`DataParallel <https://pytorch.org/tutorials/beginner/blitz/data_parallel_tutorial.html>`__.
-Across processes, DDP inserts necessary parameter synchronizations in forward
-passes and gradient synchronizations in backward passes. It is up to users to
-map processes to available resources, as long as processes do not share GPU
-devices. The recommended (usually fastest) approach is to create a process for
-every module replica, i.e., no module replication within a process. The code in
-this tutorial runs on an 8-GPU server, but it can be easily generalized to
-other environments.
+`DistributedDataParallel <https://pytorch.org/docs/stable/nn.html#torch.nn.parallel.DistributedDataParallel>`__
+(DDP) implements data parallelism at the module level which can run across
+multiple machines. Applications using DDP should spawn multiple processes and
+create a single DDP instance per process. DDP uses collective communications in the
+`torch.distributed <https://pytorch.org/tutorials/intermediate/dist_tuto.html>`__
+package to synchronize gradients and buffers. More specifically, DDP registers
+an autograd hook for each parameter given by ``model.parameters()`` and the
+hook will fire when the corresponding gradient is computed in the backward
+pass. Then DDP uses that signal to trigger gradient synchronization across
+processes. Please refer to
+`DDP design note <https://pytorch.org/docs/master/notes/ddp.html>`__ for more details.
+
+
+The recommended way to use DDP is to spawn one process for each model replica,
+where a model replica can span multiple devices. DDP processes can be
+placed on the same machine or across machines, but GPU devices cannot be
+shared across processes. This tutorial starts from a basic DDP use case and
+then demonstrates more advanced use cases including checkpointing models and
+combining DDP with model parallel.
+
+
+.. note::
+  The code in this tutorial runs on an 8-GPU server, but it can be easily
+  generalized to other environments.
+
 
 Comparison between ``DataParallel`` and ``DistributedDataParallel``
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 Before we dive in, let's clarify why, despite the added complexity, you would
 consider using ``DistributedDataParallel`` over ``DataParallel``:
 
-- First, recall from the
+- First, ``DataParallel`` is single-process, multi-thread, and only works on a
+  single machine, while ``DistributedDataParallel`` is multi-process and works
+  for both single- and multi- machine training. ``DataParallel`` is usually
+  slower than ``DistributedDataParallel`` even on a single machine due to GIL
+  contention across threads, per-iteration replicated model, and additional
+  overhead introduced by scattering inputs and gathering outputs.
+- Recall from the
   `prior tutorial <https://pytorch.org/tutorials/intermediate/model_parallel_tutorial.html>`__
   that if your model is too large to fit on a single GPU, you must use **model parallel**
   to split it across multiple GPUs. ``DistributedDataParallel`` works with
-  **model parallel**; ``DataParallel`` does not at this time.
-- ``DataParallel`` is single-process, multi-thread, and only works on a single
-  machine, while ``DistributedDataParallel`` is multi-process and works for both
-  single- and multi- machine training. Thus, even for single machine training,
-  where your **data** is small enough to fit on a single machine, ``DistributedDataParallel``
-  is expected to be faster than ``DataParallel``. ``DistributedDataParallel``
-  also replicates models upfront instead of on each iteration and gets Global
-  Interpreter Lock out of the way.
-- If both your data is too large to fit on one machine **and** your
-  model is too large to fit on a single GPU, you can combine model parallel
-  (splitting a single model across multiple GPUs) with ``DistributedDataParallel``.
-  Under this regime, each ``DistributedDataParallel`` process could use model parallel,
-  and all processes collectively would use data parallel.
+  **model parallel**; ``DataParallel`` does not at this time. When DDP is combined
+  with model parallel, each DDP process would use model parallel, and all processes
+  collectively would use data parallel.
+- If your model needs to span multiple machines or if your use case does not fit
+  into data parallelism paradigm, please see `the RPC API <https://pytorch.org/docs/stable/rpc.html>`__
+  for more generic distributed training support.
 
 Basic Use Case
 --------------
@@ -70,18 +78,14 @@ be found in
         # initialize the process group
         dist.init_process_group("gloo", rank=rank, world_size=world_size)
 
-        # Explicitly setting seed to make sure that models created in two processes
-        # start from same random weights and biases.
-        torch.manual_seed(42)
-
 
     def cleanup():
         dist.destroy_process_group()
 
 Now, let's create a toy module, wrap it with DDP, and feed it with some dummy
-input data. Please note, if training starts from random parameters, you might
-want to make sure that all DDP processes use the same initial values.
-Otherwise, global gradient synchronizes will not make sense.
+input data. Please note, as DDP broadcasts model states from rank 0 process to
+all other processes in the DDP constructor, you don't need to worry about
+different DDP processes start from different model parameter initial values.
 
 .. code:: python
 
@@ -97,24 +101,19 @@ Otherwise, global gradient synchronizes will not make sense.
 
 
     def demo_basic(rank, world_size):
+        print(f"Running basic DDP example on rank {rank}.")
         setup(rank, world_size)
 
-        # setup devices for this process, rank 1 uses GPUs [0, 1, 2, 3] and
-        # rank 2 uses GPUs [4, 5, 6, 7].
-        n = torch.cuda.device_count() // world_size
-        device_ids = list(range(rank * n, (rank + 1) * n))
-
-        # create model and move it to device_ids[0]
-        model = ToyModel().to(device_ids[0])
-        # output_device defaults to device_ids[0]
-        ddp_model = DDP(model, device_ids=device_ids)
+        # create model and move it to GPU with id rank
+        model = ToyModel().to(rank)
+        ddp_model = DDP(model, device_ids=[rank])
 
         loss_fn = nn.MSELoss()
         optimizer = optim.SGD(ddp_model.parameters(), lr=0.001)
 
         optimizer.zero_grad()
         outputs = ddp_model(torch.randn(20, 10))
-        labels = torch.randn(20, 5).to(device_ids[0])
+        labels = torch.randn(20, 5).to(rank)
         loss_fn(outputs, labels).backward()
         optimizer.step()
 
@@ -127,23 +126,27 @@ Otherwise, global gradient synchronizes will not make sense.
                  nprocs=world_size,
                  join=True)
 
-As you can see, DDP wraps lower level distributed communication details, and
-provides a clean API as if it is a local model. For basic use cases, DDP only
+As you can see, DDP wraps lower-level distributed communication details and
+provides a clean API as if it is a local model. Gradient synchronization
+communications take place during the backward pass and overlap with the
+backward computation. When the ``backward()`` returns, ``param.grad`` already
+contains the synchronized gradient tensor. For basic use cases, DDP only
 requires a few more LoCs to set up the process group. When applying DDP to more
-advanced use cases, there are some caveats that require cautions.
+advanced use cases, some caveats require caution.
 
 Skewed Processing Speeds
 ------------------------
 
-In DDP, constructor, forward method, and differentiation of the outputs are
-distributed synchronization points. Different processes are expected to reach
-synchronization points in the same order and enter each synchronization point
-at roughly the same time. Otherwise, fast processes might arrive early and
-timeout on waiting for stragglers. Hence, users are responsible for balancing
-workloads distributions across processes. Sometimes, skewed processing speeds
-are inevitable due to, e.g., network delays, resource contentions,
-unpredictable workload spikes. To avoid timeouts in these situations, make
-sure that you pass a sufficiently large ``timeout`` value when calling
+In DDP, the constructor, the forward pass, and the backward pass are
+distributed synchronization points. Different processes are expected to launch
+the same number of synchronizations and reach these synchronization points in
+the same order and enter each synchronization point at roughly the same time.
+Otherwise, fast processes might arrive early and timeout on waiting for
+stragglers. Hence, users are responsible for balancing workloads distributions
+across processes. Sometimes, skewed processing speeds are inevitable due to,
+e.g., network delays, resource contentions, unpredictable workload spikes. To
+avoid timeouts in these situations, make sure that you pass a sufficiently
+large ``timeout`` value when calling
 `init_process_group <https://pytorch.org/docs/stable/distributed.html#torch.distributed.init_process_group>`__.
 
 Save and Load Checkpoints
@@ -156,27 +159,23 @@ for more details. When using DDP, one optimization is to save the model in
 only one process and then load it to all processes, reducing write overhead.
 This is correct because all processes start from the same parameters and
 gradients are synchronized in backward passes, and hence optimizers should keep
-setting parameters to same values. If you use this optimization, make sure all
+setting parameters to the same values. If you use this optimization, make sure all
 processes do not start loading before the saving is finished. Besides, when
 loading the module, you need to provide an appropriate ``map_location``
 argument to prevent a process to step into others' devices. If ``map_location``
 is missing, ``torch.load`` will first load the module to CPU and then copy each
 parameter to where it was saved, which would result in all processes on the
-same machine using the same set of devices.
+same machine using the same set of devices. For more advanced failure recovery
+and elasticity support, please refer to `TorchElastic <https://pytorch.org/elastic>`__.
 
 .. code:: python
 
     def demo_checkpoint(rank, world_size):
+        print(f"Running DDP checkpoint example on rank {rank}.")
         setup(rank, world_size)
 
-        # setup devices for this process, rank 1 uses GPUs [0, 1, 2, 3] and
-        # rank 2 uses GPUs [4, 5, 6, 7].
-        n = torch.cuda.device_count() // world_size
-        device_ids = list(range(rank * n, (rank + 1) * n))
-
-        model = ToyModel().to(device_ids[0])
-        # output_device defaults to device_ids[0]
-        ddp_model = DDP(model, device_ids=device_ids)
+        model = ToyModel().to(rank)
+        ddp_model = DDP(model, device_ids=[rank])
 
         loss_fn = nn.MSELoss()
         optimizer = optim.SGD(ddp_model.parameters(), lr=0.001)
@@ -192,15 +191,13 @@ same machine using the same set of devices.
         # 0 saves it.
         dist.barrier()
         # configure map_location properly
-        rank0_devices = [x - rank * len(device_ids) for x in device_ids]
-        device_pairs = zip(rank0_devices, device_ids)
-        map_location = {'cuda:%d' % x: 'cuda:%d' % y for x, y in device_pairs}
+        map_location = {'cuda:%d' % 0: 'cuda:%d' % rank}
         ddp_model.load_state_dict(
             torch.load(CHECKPOINT_PATH, map_location=map_location))
 
         optimizer.zero_grad()
         outputs = ddp_model(torch.randn(20, 10))
-        labels = torch.randn(20, 5).to(device_ids[0])
+        labels = torch.randn(20, 5).to(rank)
         loss_fn = nn.MSELoss()
         loss_fn(outputs, labels).backward()
         optimizer.step()
@@ -217,13 +214,8 @@ same machine using the same set of devices.
 Combine DDP with Model Parallelism
 ----------------------------------
 
-DDP also works with multi-GPU models, but replications within a process are not
-supported. You need to create one process per module replica, which usually
-leads to better performance compared to multiple replicas per process. DDP
-wrapping multi-GPU models is especially helpful when training large models with
-a huge amount of data. When using this feature, the multi-GPU model needs to be
-carefully implemented to avoid hard-coded devices, because different model
-replicas will be placed to different devices.
+DDP also works with multi-GPU models. DDP wrapping multi-GPU models is especially
+helpful when training large models with a huge amount of data.
 
 .. code:: python
 
@@ -249,6 +241,7 @@ either the application or the model ``forward()`` method.
 .. code:: python
 
     def demo_model_parallel(rank, world_size):
+        print(f"Running DDP with model parallel example on rank {rank}.")
         setup(rank, world_size)
 
         # setup mp_model and devices for this process
@@ -271,8 +264,10 @@ either the application or the model ``forward()`` method.
 
 
     if __name__ == "__main__":
-        run_demo(demo_basic, 2)
-        run_demo(demo_checkpoint, 2)
-
-        if torch.cuda.device_count() >= 8:
-            run_demo(demo_model_parallel, 4)
+        n_gpus = torch.cuda.device_count()
+        if n_gpus < 8:
+          print(f"Requires at least 8 GPUs to run, but got {n_gpus}.")
+        else:
+          run_demo(demo_basic, 8)
+          run_demo(demo_checkpoint, 8)
+          run_demo(demo_model_parallel, 4)
