MKL support for OpenMPI

[hiralsmaillist]

Greetings!!!

I have query about support of OpenMPI in MKL library specifically for BLACS and SCALAPACK.

I am using Intel Visual Fortran Compiler Professional Edition 11.1.

C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Intel\\Compiler\\11.1\\065\\mkl\\ia32\\lib lists following libs only...
mkl_blacs_dll.lib
mkl_blacs_intelmpi.lib
mkl_blacs_mpich2.lib

As Intel already supports OpenMPI on Linux (libmkl_blacs_openmpi_lp64.a), is there any plan to support OpenMPI on Windows platform?

Thank you in advance.
-Hiral

[Gennady_F_Intel]

Hiral,

Can You tell me the reason why You need to work with OpenMPI but not with another MPI versions?

I am asking only because of we need to clarify the reasons before we will follow with your request...

Regards,

Gennady

[TimP]

I would comment that OpenMPI has only very recently joined the top group of favored MPI implementations for Windows, and is (not yet) supported on Windows for many commercial applications, even those for which linux OpenMPI is favored. Among the problems is the rapid introduction of new incompatible versions of OpenMPI. If you have a strong preference, you would need to vote on the version.
The situation might be expected to change fairly quickly.
OpenMPI may already have become the most popular for those who build MPI themselves.

[damienhocking]

OpenMPI works today with Intel MKL on Windows, I use them all the time with the MUMPS linear solver. You can use the MKL Blacs & Scalapack libraries either as static libs or dll on Windows, they both work fine (mkl_scalapack_core or mkl_scalapack_core_dll and mkl_blacs_dll).

[hiralsmaillist]

Hi Gennady,

I did survey of MPI implementations and compared OpenMPI, MPICH2 and MSMPI, from that...

1) I found that OpenMPI is supported on most of major platforms and clearly explains what is supported, build or installation steps etc. That I found difficult to find for MPICH2.

2) I am not sure whether MPICH2 supported on Darwin.

3) Also, to run MPICH on particular node, that node should have Hydra process manager running (Ref. http://www.beowulf.org/archive/2008-April/021197.html); but that is not the requirement for OpenMPI.

And as our product is supported on multiple platform (Windows, Mac, Linux) I choose OpenMPI.

Please put your comments on each point and correct me on my observation, if you think.

BTW: I have following further query...
As libmkl_blacs_openmpi_ilp64.a and libmkl_blacs_openmpi_lp64.a MKL libraries support openmpi on Linux platform, is there any specific reason that those are not yet supported on Windows ?

Thank you in advance.
-Hiral

[hiralsmaillist]

Hi Tim,

Can you please comment on my previous update?

Thank you in advance.
-Hiral

[hiralsmaillist]

Hi damienhocking,

I am able to compile test program (Reference: http://www.netlib.org/blacs/BLACS/Examples.html#HELLO)
with OpenMPI, mkl_blacs_intelmpi.lib and mkl_scalapack_core libraries on Windows platform.

But at runtime this toy program halts on "orted.exe".

I do not have MPICH or MSMPI installed on my Windows 7 machine.

Thank you.
-Hiral

[TimP]

1) Without question, the OpenMPI support team have done a fantastic job of documenting and maintaining a support site and mail list. There is still a strong effort in development of mpich2 for certain platforms (including Windows), but, as you say, no one team appears to coordinate the various platforms.

3) Some customers have reported a preference for MPICH2 on Windows (when Infiniband isn't in use), due to the excellent install procedure for the pre-built binary. My experience with mpich2 on linux isn't up to date; I don't remember any special requirements out of line with other MPI, although I (and others) have found it difficult to get correct results. mpich2 (and Intel MPI) don't support certain non-standard practices which are common with OpenMPI, but I've never seen the OpenMPI developers advocate such practices.
The special requirements of certain commercial Windows MPI (AD for MSMPI, domain membership for HP/Platform MPI), as well as pricing models, make those difficult to use on small clusters.

If you support clusters of 4 or more nodes, Infiniband support becomes important, but you are the best judge of which MPI best supports your customer base.

In case it doesn't go without saying, I and others frequently use MKL sequential library in MPI applications, with no dependency on which MPI is in use.

[damienhocking]

Hiral,

To track down what's not working you should post your problem to the OpenMPI mailing list. Orted is the OpenMPI runtime. There's a number of things that can cause that to fail but it's often something simple.

Damien

[hiralsmaillist]

Hi Tim / Gennady Fedorov,

As libmkl_blacs_openmpi_ilp64.a and libmkl_blacs_openmpi_lp64.a MKL libraries support openmpi on Linux platform, is there any specific reason that those are not yet supported on Windows ?

When can I expect the same on Windows platform?

Please let me know if you require any further information.

Thank you in advance.
-Hiral

[hiralsmaillist]

Hi damienhocking,

Please refer...
http://www.open-mpi.org/community/lists/users/2011/04/16207.php

They are referring that Intel MKL blacs libraries with OpenMPI support are missing on Windows platform.

Thank you.
-Hiral

[hiralsmaillist]

Hi Tim / Gennady Fedorov,

As libmkl_blacs_openmpi_ilp64.a and libmkl_blacs_openmpi_lp64.a MKL libraries support openmpi on Linux platform, is there any specific reason that those are not yet supported on Windows ?

When can I expect the same on Windows platform?

Please let me know if you require any further information.

Thank you in advance.
-Hiral

[Todd_R_Intel]

Damien,

I've submitted a request for Intel MKL to supportOpenMPI on Windows. We don't have a target date for introducing it, but hearing from users, does play a part in determining our priorities. Thanks for the feedback.

By the way, it seems Damien is successful, and the reference above that you list is for Linux (and anyway uses the BLACS layer designed for Intel MPI instead of the one designed for OpenMPI). Which BLACS layer are you attempting to use with OpenMPI on Windows?

Regards,
Todd

[damienhocking]

Todd,

Are you asking me or Hiral? I just linked in the mkl_blacs_dll lib with the Scalapack libs. It might not work for everything, I didn't know MKL didn't support OpenMPI on Windows. There's good BLACS static libs available for download from http://icl.cs.utk.edu/lapack-for-windows/scalapack/index.html. They also work with OpenMPI.

Damien

[hiralsmaillist]

Hi Tod,

Thanks for submitting the request.

> it seems Damien is successful

I tried with Damien's provided link but seems halting on call to blacs_pinfo().


> the reference above that you list is for Linux (and anyway uses the BLACS layer designed for Intel MPI
> instead of the one designed for OpenMPI). Which BLACS layer are you attempting to use with OpenMPI
> on Windows?

RTL "BLACS routines supporting OpenMPI"
I can assume the same functionality on Windows platform as you are providing in "libmkl_blacs_openmpi_ilp64.a" and "libmkl_blacs_openmpi_lp64.a" MKL libraries on Linux platform.


When can I expect these libraries?

Please let me know if you require more information to prioritise this case.

Thank you.
-Hiral

[Todd_R_Intel]

Hiral,

We don't have a schedule for inclusion of OpenMPI support on Windows yet. I'll post a response when I can on our plans for this support.

You have provided already some of the criteria for why you think it should be supported. Thank you. If you have anything further to help us prioritize the workit's alsowelcome.

Todd

[hiralsmaillist]

Hi Todd,

Do you think that Intel Fortran license user can vote on this case? If yes, please let me know the steps.
Please let me know other channels via which we can prioritize this.

I think you have not answered my following query...
- As libmkl_blacs_openmpi_ilp64.a and libmkl_blacs_openmpi_lp64.a MKL libraries support openmpi on Linux platform, is there any specific reason that those are not yet supported on Windows ?

Thank you.
-Hiral

[Todd_R_Intel]

Hello Hiral,

This is indeed a fine channel to submit your vote. Consider it received and counted!

Support for different versions of MPI are added as we see increased adoption and requests from users. I think Tim mentioned previously that adoption on Windows been slower than adoption on Linux. That's the best I can provide you with right now.

Todd

[Ying_H_Intel]

Dear all, 

I'm sorry to tell, 

OpenMPI discontinued Windows support. 
See: https://www.open-mpi.org/faq/?category=supported-systems
NOTE: as of the v1.8 series, so we no longer support either Microsoft Windows or Solaris. 

So we (MKL) will don't support OpenMPI for windows either. 

Thanks

Ying