Machine Learning Predictions for Underestimation of Job Runtime on HPC System

In modern high-performance computing (HPC) systems, users are usually requested to estimate the job runtime for system scheduling when they submit a job. In general, an underestimation of job runtime will cause the HPC system to terminate the job before its completion. If users could be notified that their jobs may not finish before its allocated time expires, users can take actions, such as killing the job and resubmitting it after parameter adjustment, to save time and cost. Meanwhile, the productivity of HPC systems could also be vastly improved. In this paper, we propose a data-driven approach – that is, one that actively observes, analyzes, and logs jobs – for predicting underestimation of job runtime on HPC systems. Using data produced by TSUBAME 2.5, a supercomputer deployed at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, we apply machine learning algorithms to recognize patterns about whether the underestimation of job runtime occurs. Our experimental results show that our approach on runtime-underestimation prediction with 80% precision, 70% recall and 74% F1-score on the entirety of a given dataset. Finally, we split the entire job data set into subsets categorized by scientific application name. The best precision, recall and F1-score of subsets on runtime-underestimation prediction achieved 90%, 95% and 92% respectively.