I have a small cluster of computers with uneven clock speed CPUs and
currently I am running with "-np" == total number of cores. However,
it appears as if the fastest computer has to wait for the slower
ones to finish at the end (at least I believe so). The most recent
process took 65 hours so I am interested in finding ways to optimise
the process.
Is it possible to, say, use a larger "-np" and then increase the
thread number for the faster CPUs in the machine file to make the
faster computers do more work so, ideally, they all finish about the
same time? Will it finish off the first batch then start on the next
batch? Or, will the faster computers just get more concurrent jobs,
possibly slowing down the processing?
eg, if the single CPU of PC_A has twice the clock rating to that of
single CPU PC_B, and both has quad cores, then use -np=12 and then
have the following in the machinefile:
PC_A:8
PC_B:4
Perhaps this is something better addressed with job scheduling
software like GridEngine? Reuti?