Pipeline Parallelism¶
Note
torch.distributed.pipelining
is currently in alpha state and under
development. API changes may be possible. It was migrated from the PiPPy project.
Why Pipeline Parallel?¶
Pipeline Parallelism is one of the primitive parallelism for deep learning. It allows the execution of a model to be partitioned such that multiple micro-batches can execute different parts of the model code concurrently. Pipeline parallelism can be an effective technique for:
large-scale training
bandwidth-limited clusters
large model inference
The above scenarios share a commonality that the computation per device cannot hide the communication of conventional parallelism, for example, the weight all-gather of FSDP.
What is torch.distributed.pipelining
?¶
While promising for scaling, pipelining is often difficult to implement because it needs to partition the execution of a model in addition to model weights. The partitioning of execution often requires intrusive code changes to your model. Another aspect of complexity comes from scheduling micro-batches in a distributed environment, with data flow dependency considered.
The pipelining
package provides a toolkit that does said things
automatically which allows easy implementation of pipeline parallelism
on general models.
It consists of two parts: a splitting frontend and a distributed runtime. The splitting frontend takes your model code as-is, splits it up into “model partitions”, and captures the data-flow relationship. The distributed runtime executes the pipeline stages on different devices in parallel, handling things like micro-batch splitting, scheduling, communication, and gradient propagation, etc.
Overall, the pipelining
package provides the following features:
Splitting of model code based on simple specification.
Rich support for pipeline schedules, including GPipe, 1F1B, Interleaved 1F1B and Looped BFS, and providing the infrastructure for writing customized schedules.
First-class support for cross-host pipeline parallelism, as this is where PP is typically used (over slower interconnects).
Composability with other PyTorch parallel techniques such as data parallel (DDP, FSDP) or tensor parallel. The TorchTitan project demonstrates a “3D parallel” application on the Llama model.
Step 1: build PipelineStage
¶
Before we can use a PipelineSchedule
, we need to create PipelineStage
objects that wrap the part of the model running in that stage. The
PipelineStage
is responsible for allocating communication buffers and
creating send/recv ops to communicate with its peers. It manages intermediate
buffers e.g. for the outputs of forward that have not been consumed yet, and it
provides a utility for running the backwards for the stage model.
A PipelineStage
needs to know the input and output shapes for the stage
model, so that it can correctly allocate communication buffers. The shapes must
be static, e.g. at runtime the shapes can not change from step to step. A class
PipeliningShapeError
will be raised if runtime shapes do not match the
expected shapes. When composing with other paralleisms or applying mixed
precision, these techniques must be taken into account so the PipelineStage
knows the correct shape (and dtype) for the output of the stage module at
runtime.
Users may construct a PipelineStage
instance directly, by passing in an
nn.Module
representing the portion of the model that should run on the
stage. This may require changes to the original model code. See the example
in Option 1: splitting a model manually.
Alternatively, the splitting frontend can use graph partitioning to split your
model into a series of nn.Module
automatically. This technique requires the
model is traceable with torch.Export
. Composability of the resulting
nn.Module
with other parallelism techniques is experimental, and may require
some workarounds. Usage of this frontend may be more appealing if the user
cannot easily change the model code. See Option 2: splitting a model automatically for more
information.
Step 2: use PipelineSchedule
for execution¶
We can now attach the PipelineStage
to a pipeline schedule, and run the
schedule with input data. Here is a GPipe example:
from torch.distributed.pipelining import ScheduleGPipe
# Create a schedule
schedule = ScheduleGPipe(stage, n_microbatches)
# Input data (whole batch)
x = torch.randn(batch_size, in_dim, device=device)
# Run the pipeline with input `x`
# `x` will be divided into microbatches automatically
if rank == 0:
schedule.step(x)
else:
output = schedule.step()
Note that the above code needs to be launched for each worker, thus we use a launcher service to launch multiple processes:
torchrun --nproc_per_node=2 example.py
Options for Splitting a Model¶
Option 1: splitting a model manually¶
To directly construct a PipelineStage
, the user is responsible for providing
a single nn.Module
instance that owns the relevant nn.Parameters
and
nn.Buffers
, and defines a forward()
method that executes the operations
relevant for that stage. For example, a condensed version of the Transformer
class defined in Torchtitan shows a pattern of building an easily partitionable
model.
class Transformer(nn.Module):
def __init__(self, model_args: ModelArgs):
super().__init__()
self.tok_embeddings = nn.Embedding(...)
# Using a ModuleDict lets us delete layers without affecting names,
# ensuring checkpoints will correctly save and load.
self.layers = torch.nn.ModuleDict()
for layer_id in range(model_args.n_layers):
self.layers[str(layer_id)] = TransformerBlock(...)
self.output = nn.Linear(...)
def forward(self, tokens: torch.Tensor):
# Handling layers being 'None' at runtime enables easy pipeline splitting
h = self.tok_embeddings(tokens) if self.tok_embeddings else tokens
for layer in self.layers.values():
h = layer(h, self.freqs_cis)
h = self.norm(h) if self.norm else h
output = self.output(h).float() if self.output else h
return output
A model defined in this manner can be easily configured per stage by first initializing the whole model (using meta-device to avoid OOM errors), deleting undesired layers for that stage, and then creating a PipelineStage that wraps the model. For example:
with torch.device("meta"):
assert num_stages == 2, "This is a simple 2-stage example"
# we construct the entire model, then delete the parts we do not need for this stage
# in practice, this can be done using a helper function that automatically divides up layers across stages.
model = Transformer()
if stage_index == 0:
# prepare the first stage model
del model.layers["1"]
model.norm = None
model.output = None
elif stage_index == 1:
# prepare the second stage model
model.tok_embeddings = None
del model.layers["0"]
from torch.distributed.pipelining import PipelineStage
stage = PipelineStage(
model,
stage_index,
num_stages,
device,
input_args=example_input_microbatch,
)
The PipelineStage
requires an example argument input_args
representing
the runtime input to the stage, which would be one microbatch worth of input
data. This argument is passed through the forward method of the stage module to
determine the input and output shapes required for communication.
When composing with other Data or Model parallelism techniques, output_args
may also be required, if the output shape/dtype of the model chunk will be
affected.
Option 2: splitting a model automatically¶
If you have a full model and do not want to spend time on modifying it into a
sequence of “model partitions”, the pipeline
API is here to help.
Here is a brief example:
class Model(torch.nn.Module):
def __init__(self) -> None:
super().__init__()
self.emb = torch.nn.Embedding(10, 3)
self.layers = torch.nn.ModuleList(
Layer() for _ in range(2)
)
self.lm = LMHead()
def forward(self, x: torch.Tensor) -> torch.Tensor:
x = self.emb(x)
for layer in self.layers:
x = layer(x)
x = self.lm(x)
return x
If we print the model, we can see multiple hierarchies, which makes it hard to split by hand:
Model(
(emb): Embedding(10, 3)
(layers): ModuleList(
(0-1): 2 x Layer(
(lin): Linear(in_features=3, out_features=3, bias=True)
)
)
(lm): LMHead(
(proj): Linear(in_features=3, out_features=3, bias=True)
)
)
Let us see how the pipeline
API works:
from torch.distributed.pipelining import pipeline, SplitPoint
# An example micro-batch input
x = torch.LongTensor([1, 2, 4, 5])
pipe = pipeline(
module=mod,
mb_args=(x,),
split_spec={
"layers.1": SplitPoint.BEGINNING,
}
)
The pipeline
API splits your model given a split_spec
, where
SplitPoint.BEGINNING
stands for adding a split point
before execution of certain submodule in the forward
function, and
similarly, SplitPoint.END
for split point after such.
If we print(pipe)
, we can see:
GraphModule(
(submod_0): GraphModule(
(emb): InterpreterModule()
(layers): Module(
(0): InterpreterModule(
(lin): InterpreterModule()
)
)
)
(submod_1): GraphModule(
(layers): Module(
(1): InterpreterModule(
(lin): InterpreterModule()
)
)
(lm): InterpreterModule(
(proj): InterpreterModule()
)
)
)
def forward(self, x):
submod_0 = self.submod_0(x); x = None
submod_1 = self.submod_1(submod_0); submod_0 = None
return (submod_1,)
The “model partitions” are represented by submodules (submod_0
,
submod_1
), each of which is reconstructed with original model operations, weights
and hierarchies. In addition, a “root-level” forward
function is
reconstructed to capture the data flow between those partitions. Such data flow
will be replayed by the pipeline runtime later, in a distributed fashion.
The Pipe
object provides a method for retrieving the “model partitions”:
stage_mod : nn.Module = pipe.get_stage_module(stage_idx)
The returned stage_mod
is a nn.Module
, with which you can create an
optimizer, save or load checkpoints, or apply other parallelisms.
Pipe
also allows you to create a distributed stage runtime on a device given
a ProcessGroup
:
stage = pipe.build_stage(stage_idx, device, group)
Alternatively, if you would like to build the stage runtime later after some
modification to the stage_mod
, you can use a functional version of the
build_stage
API. For example:
from torch.distributed.pipelining import build_stage
from torch.nn.parallel import DistributedDataParallel
dp_mod = DistributedDataParallel(stage_mod)
info = pipe.info()
stage = build_stage(dp_mod, stage_idx, info, device, group)
Note
The pipeline
frontend uses a tracer (torch.export
) to capture your
model into a single graph. If your model is not full-graph’able, you can use
our manual frontend below.
Hugging Face Examples¶
In the PiPPy repo where this package was original created, we kept examples based on unmodified Hugging Face models. See the examples/huggingface directory.
Examples include:
Technical Deep Dive¶
How does the pipeline
API split a model?¶
First, the pipeline
API turns our model into a directed acyclic graph (DAG)
by tracing the model. It traces the model using torch.export
– a PyTorch 2
full-graph capturing tool.
Then, it groups together the operations and parameters needed by a stage
into a reconstructed submodule: submod_0
, submod_1
, …
Different from conventional submodule access methods like Module.children()
,
the pipeline
API does not only cut the module structure of your model, but
also the forward function of your model.
This is necessary because model structure like Module.children()
merely
captures information during Module.__init__()
, and does not capture any
information about Module.forward()
. Said differently, Module.children()
lacks information about the following aspects key to pipelininig:
Execution order of child modules in
forward
Activation flows between child modules
Whether there are any functional operators between child modules (for example,
relu
oradd
operations will not be captured byModule.children()
).
The pipeline
API, on the contrary, makes sure that the forward
behavior
is truly preserved. It also captures the activation flow between the partitions,
helping the distributed runtime to make correct send/receive calls without human
intervention.
Another flexibility of the pipeline
API is that split points can be at
arbitrary levels within your model hierarchy. In the split partitions, the original model
hierarchy related to that partition will be reconstructed at no cost to you.
At a result, fully-qualified names (FQNs) pointing to a submodule or parameter
would be still valid, and services that relies on FQNs (such as FSDP, TP or
checkpointing) can still run with your partitioned modules with almost zero code
change.
Implementing Your Own Schedule¶
You can implement your own pipeline schedule by extending one of the following two class:
PipelineScheduleSingle
PipelineScheduleMulti
PipelineScheduleSingle
is for schedules that assigns only one stage per rank.
PipelineScheduleMulti
is for schedules that assigns multiple stages per rank.
For example, ScheduleGPipe
and Schedule1F1B
are subclasses of PipelineScheduleSingle
.
Whereas, ScheduleInterleaved1F1B
, ScheduleLoopedBFS
, and ScheduleInterleavedZeroBubble
are subclasses of PipelineScheduleMulti
.
Logging¶
You can turn on additional logging using the TORCH_LOGS environment variable from [torch._logging](https://pytorch.org/docs/main/logging.html#module-torch._logging):
TORCH_LOGS=+pp will display logging.DEBUG messages and all levels above it.
TORCH_LOGS=pp will display logging.INFO messages and above.
TORCH_LOGS=-pp will display logging.WARNING messages and above.
API Reference¶
Model Split APIs¶
The following set of APIs transform your model into a pipeline representation.
- torch.distributed.pipelining.pipeline(module, mb_args, mb_kwargs=None, split_spec=None, split_policy=None)[source][source]¶
Split a module based on a specification.
See Pipe for more details.
- Parameters
module (Module) – The module to be splitted.
mb_args (Tuple[Any, ...]) – Example positional inputs, in micro-batch form.
mb_kwargs (Optional[Dict[str, Any]]) – Example keyword inputs, in micro-batch form. (default: None)
split_spec (Optional[Dict[str, SplitPoint]]) – A dictionary using submodule names as split marker. (default: None)
split_policy (Optional[Callable[[GraphModule], GraphModule]]) – The policy to use for splitting the module. (default: None)
- Return type
A pipeline representation of class Pipe.
- class torch.distributed.pipelining.Pipe(split_gm, num_stages, has_loss_and_backward, loss_spec)[source][source]¶
- torch.distributed.pipelining.pipe_split()[source][source]¶
pipe_split is a special operator that is used to mark the boundary between stages in a module. It is used to split the module into stages. It is a no-op if your annotated module is run eagerly.
Example
>>> def forward(self, x): >>> x = torch.mm(x, self.mm_param) >>> x = torch.relu(x) >>> pipe_split() >>> x = self.lin(x) >>> return x
The above example will be split into two stages.
Microbatch Utilities¶
- class torch.distributed.pipelining.microbatch.TensorChunkSpec(split_dim)[source][source]¶
Class used to specify chunking of inputs
- torch.distributed.pipelining.microbatch.split_args_kwargs_into_chunks(args, kwargs, chunks, args_chunk_spec=None, kwargs_chunk_spec=None)[source][source]¶
Given a sequence of args and kwargs, split them into a number of chunks according to their respective chunking specs.
- Parameters
chunks (int) – Number of chunks to split the args and kwargs into
args_chunk_spec (Optional[Tuple[TensorChunkSpec, ...]]) – chunking specs for args, in same shape as args
kwargs_chunk_spec (Optional[Dict[str, TensorChunkSpec]]) – chunking specs for kwargs, in same shape as kwargs
- Returns
List of sharded args kwargs_split: List of sharded kwargs
- Return type
args_split
Pipeline Stages¶
- class torch.distributed.pipelining.stage.PipelineStage(submodule, stage_index, num_stages, device, input_args=None, output_args=None, group=None, dw_builder=None)[source][source]¶
A class representing a pipeline stage in a pipeline parallelism setup.
PipelineStage assumes sequential partitioning of the model, i.e. the model is split into chunks where outputs from one chunk feed into inputs of the next chunk, with no skip connections.
PipelineStage performs runtime shape/dtype inference automatically by propagating the outputs from stage0 to stage1 and so forth, in linear order. To bypass shape inference, pass the input_args and output_args to each PipelineStage instance.
- Parameters
submodule (nn.Module) – The PyTorch module wrapped by this stage.
stage_index (int) – The ID of this stage.
num_stages (int) – The total number of stages.
device (torch.device) – The device where this stage is located.
input_args (Union[torch.Tensor, Tuple[torch.tensor]], optional) – The input arguments for the submodule.
output_args (Union[torch.Tensor, Tuple[torch.tensor]], optional) – The output arguments for the submodule.
group (dist.ProcessGroup, optional) – The process group for distributed training. If None, default group.
dw_builder (Optional[Callable[[], Callable[[...], None]]]) – TODO clean up comments
- torch.distributed.pipelining.stage.build_stage(stage_module, stage_index, pipe_info, device, group=None)[source][source]¶
Create a pipeline stage given a stage_module to be wrapped by this stage and pipeline information.
- Parameters
stage_module (torch.nn.Module) – the module to be wrapped by this stage
stage_index (int) – the index of this stage in the pipeline
pipe_info (PipeInfo) – information about the pipeline, can be retrieved by pipe.info()
device (torch.device) – the device to be used by this stage
group (Optional[dist.ProcessGroup]) – the process group to be used by this stage
- Returns
a pipeline stage that can run with PipelineSchedules.
- Return type
_PipelineStage
Pipeline Schedules¶
- class torch.distributed.pipelining.schedules.ScheduleGPipe(stage, n_microbatches, loss_fn=None, args_chunk_spec=None, kwargs_chunk_spec=None, output_merge_spec=None)[source][source]¶
The GPipe schedule. Will go through all the microbatches in a fill-drain manner.
- class torch.distributed.pipelining.schedules.Schedule1F1B(stage, n_microbatches, loss_fn=None, args_chunk_spec=None, kwargs_chunk_spec=None, output_merge_spec=None)[source][source]¶
The 1F1B schedule. Will perform one forward and one backward on the microbatches in steady state.
- class torch.distributed.pipelining.schedules.ScheduleInterleaved1F1B(stages, n_microbatches, loss_fn=None, args_chunk_spec=None, kwargs_chunk_spec=None, output_merge_spec=None)[source][source]¶
The Interleaved 1F1B schedule. See https://arxiv.org/pdf/2104.04473 for details. Will perform one forward and one backward on the microbatches in steady state and supports multiple stages per rank. When microbatches are ready for multiple local stages, Interleaved 1F1B prioritizes the earlier microbatch (also called “depth first”).
This schedule is mostly similar to the original paper. It differs by being relaxing the requirement of num_microbatch % pp_size == 0. Using the flex_pp schedule, we will have num_rounds = max(1, n_microbatches // pp_group_size) and it works as long as n_microbatches % num_rounds is 0. As a few examples, support
pp_group_size = 4, n_microbatches = 10. We will have num_rounds = 2 and n_microbatches % 2 is 0.
pp_group_size = 4, n_microbatches = 3. We will have num_rounds = 1 and n_microbatches % 1 is 0.
- class torch.distributed.pipelining.schedules.ScheduleLoopedBFS(stages, n_microbatches, loss_fn=None, output_merge_spec=None)[source][source]¶
Breadth-First Pipeline Parallelism. See https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.05953 for details. Simliar to Interleaved 1F1B, Looped BFS supports multiple stages per rank. What is different is that when microbatches are ready for multiple local stages, Loops BFS will prioritizes the earlier stage, running all available microbatches at once.
- class torch.distributed.pipelining.schedules.ScheduleInterleavedZeroBubble(stages, n_microbatches, loss_fn=None, args_chunk_spec=None, kwargs_chunk_spec=None, output_merge_spec=None)[source][source]¶
The Interleaved Zero Bubble schedule. See https://arxiv.org/pdf/2401.10241 for details. Will perform one forward and one backward on inputs for the microbatches in steady state and supports multiple stages per rank. Uses the backward for weights to fill in the pipeline bubble.
In particular this is implementing the ZB1P schedule in the paper.
- class torch.distributed.pipelining.schedules.PipelineScheduleSingle(stage, n_microbatches, loss_fn=None, args_chunk_spec=None, kwargs_chunk_spec=None, output_merge_spec=None)[source][source]¶
Base class for single-stage schedules. Implements the step method. Derived classes should implement _step_microbatches.
- step(*args, target=None, losses=None, **kwargs)[source][source]¶
Run one iteration of the pipeline schedule with whole-batch input. Will chunk the input into microbatches automatically, and go through the microbatches according to the schedule implementation.
args: positional arguments to the model (as in non-pipeline case). kwargs: keyword arguments to the model (as in non-pipeline case). target: target for the loss function. losses: a list to store the losses for each microbatch.
- class torch.distributed.pipelining.schedules.PipelineScheduleMulti(stages, n_microbatches, loss_fn=None, args_chunk_spec=None, kwargs_chunk_spec=None, output_merge_spec=None, stage_index_to_group_rank=None, use_full_backward=None)[source][source]¶
Base class for multi-stage schedules. Implements the step method.
- step(*args, target=None, losses=None, **kwargs)[source][source]¶
Run one iteration of the pipeline schedule with whole-batch input. Will chunk the input into microbatches automatically, and go through the microbatches according to the schedule implementation.
args: positional arguments to the model (as in non-pipeline case). kwargs: keyword arguments to the model (as in non-pipeline case). target: target for the loss function. losses: a list to store the losses for each microbatch.