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Leonid Sokolinsky
Mikhail Zymbler (Eds.)

Communications in Computer and Information Science 1263

Parallel Computational
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14th International Conference, PCT 2020
Perm, Russia, May 27–29, 2020
Revised Selected Papers
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Revised Selected Papers

123
Editors
Leonid Sokolinsky Mikhail Zymbler
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Chelyabinsk, Russia Chelyabinsk, Russia

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 Preface

This volume contains a selection of the papers presented at the 14th International
Scientific Conference on Parallel Computational Technologies (PCT 2020). The PCT
2020 conference was supposed to be held in Perm, Russia, during March 31–April 2,
2020. However, considering the safety and well-being of all conference participants
during the COVID-19 pandemic as a priority, the Organizing Committee took the hard
decision to hold PCT 2020 online during May 27–29, 2020.
The PCT series of conferences aims at providing an opportunity to discuss the future
of parallel computing, as well as to report the results achieved by leading research
groups in solving both scientific and practical issues using supercomputer technologies.
The scope of the PCT series of conferences includes all aspects of high-performance
computing in science and technology such as applications, hardware and software,
specialized languages, and packages.
The PCT series is organized by the Supercomputing Consortium of Russian
Universities and the Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations. Originating in 2007
at the South Ural State University (Chelyabinsk, Russia), the PCT series of conferences
has now become one of the most prestigious Russian scientific meetings on parallel
programming and high-performance computing. PCT 2020 in Perm continued the
series after Chelyabinsk (2007), St. Petersburg (2008), Nizhny Novgorod (2009), Ufa
(2010), Moscow (2011), Novosibirsk (2012), Chelyabinsk (2013), Rostov-on-Don
(2014), Ekaterinburg (2015), Arkhangelsk (2016), Kazan (2017), Rostov-on-Don
(2018), and Kaliningrad (2019).
Each paper submitted to the conference was scrupulously evaluated by three
reviewers on the relevance to the conference topics, scientific and practical contribu-
tion, experimental evaluation of the results, and presentation quality. The Program
Committee of PCT selected the 24 best papers to be included in this CCIS proceedings
volume.
We would like to thank the Russian Foundation for Basic Research for their con-
tinued financial support of the PCT series of conferences, as well as respected PCT
2020 sponsors, namely platinum sponsors, IBM and Intel, gold sponsors, Hewlett
Packard Enterprise, RSC Group, and AMD, and silver sponsor, NVIDIA.
We would like to express our gratitude to every individual who contributed to the
success of PCT 2020 amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Special thanks to the Program
Committee members and the external reviewers for evaluating papers submitted to the
conference. Thanks also to the Organizing Committee members and all the colleagues
involved in the conference organization from Perm National Research Polytechnic
University, the South Ural State University (national research university), and Moscow
State University. We thank the participants of PCT 2020 for sharing their research and
presenting their achievements online as well.
vi Preface

Finally, we thank Springer for publishing the proceedings of PCT 2020 in the
Communications in Computer and Information Science series.

June 2020 Leonid Sokolinsky

Mikhail Zymbler

The 14th International Scientific Conference on Parallel Computational Technologies
(PCT 2020) was organized by the Supercomputing Consortium of Russian Universities
and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
Steering Committee
Berdyshev, V. I.
Ershov, Yu. L.
Minkin, V. I.
Moiseev, E. I.
Savin, G. I.
Sadovnichiy, V. A.
Chetverushkin, B. N.
Shokin, Yu. I.
Program Committee
Sadovnichiy, V. A. (Chair)
Dongarra, J. (Co-chair)
Sokolinsky, L. B. (Co-chair)
Voevodin, Vl. V. (Co-chair)
Zymbler, M. L. (Academic
Secretary)
Ablameyko, S. V.
Afanasiev, A. P.
Akimova, E. N.
Andrzejak, A.
Balaji, P.
Boldyrev, Y. Ya.
Carretero, J.
Gazizov, R. K.
Gergel, V. P.
Organization
Krasovskii Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics,
Russia
United Scientific Council on Mathematics
and Informatics, Russia
South Federal University, Russia
Moscow State University, Russia
Joint Supercomputer Center, Russian Academy
of Sciences, Russia
Moscow State University, Russia
Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, Russian
Academy of Sciences, Russia
Institute of Computational Technologies, Russian
Academy of Sciences, Russia
Moscow State University, Russia
University of Tennessee, USA
South Ural State University, Russia
Moscow State University, Russia
South Ural State University, Russia
Belarusian State University, Belarus
Institute for Systems Analysis RAS, Russia
Krasovskii Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics UB
RAS, Russia
Heidelberg University, Germany
Argonne National Laboratory, USA
Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University, Russia
Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain
Ufa State Aviation Technical University, Russia
Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod,
Russia
viii Organization

Glinsky, B. M. Institute of Computational Mathematics and

Mathematical Geophysics SB RAS, Russia
Goryachev, V. D. Tver State Technical University, Russia
Il’in, V. P. Institute of Computational Mathematics
and Mathematical Geophysics SB RAS, Russia
Kobayashi, H. Tohoku University, Japan
Kunkel, J. University of Hamburg, Germany
Labarta, J. Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain
Lastovetsky, A. University College Dublin, Ireland
Ludwig, T. German Climate Computing Center, Germany
Lykosov, V. N. Institute of Numerical Mathematics RAS, Russia
Mallmann, D. Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Germany
Malyshkin, V. E. Institute of Computational Mathematics and
Mathematical Geophysics SB RAS, Russia
Michalewicz, M. A*STAR Computational Resource Centre, Singapore
Modorsky, V. Ya. Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Shamakina, A. V. High Performance Computing Center in Stuttgart,
Germany
Shumyatsky, P. University of Brasília, Brazil
Sithole, H. Centre for High Performance Computing, South Africa
Starchenko, A. V. Tomsk State University, Russia
Sterling, T. Indiana University, USA
Sukhinov, A. I. Don State Technical University, Russia
Taufer, M. University of Delaware, USA
Turlapov, V. E. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod,
Russia
Wyrzykowski, R. Czestochowa University of Technology, Poland
Yakobovskiy, M. V. Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics RAS, Russia
Yamazaki, Y. Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil

Organizing Committee
Tashkinov, A. S. (Chair) Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Shevelev, N. A. (Co-chair) Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Korotaev, V. N. (Co-chair) Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Trushnikov, D. N. (Deputy Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Chair)
Modorsky, V. Ya. (Deputy Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Chair)
Seregina, M. A. (Secretary) Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Antonov, A. S. Moscow State University, Russia
Antonova, A. P. Moscow State University, Russia
Cherepanov, I. E. Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Faizrahmanov, R. A. Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Grents, A. V. South Ural State University, Russia
Hudyakova, D. N. Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
 Organization ix

Ilyushin, P. Yu. Perm Polytechnic University, Russia

Kalyulin, S. L. Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Kashevarova, G. G. Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Kashnikov, Yu. A. Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Kraeva, Ya. A. South Ural State University, Russia
Maksimov, D. S. Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Masich, G. F. Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Mikrukov, A. O. Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Nikitenko, D. A. Moscow State University, Russia
Perkova, A. I. South Ural State University, Russia
Pervadchuk, V. P. Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Pisarev, P. V. Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Sakovskaya, V. I. South Ural State University, Russia
Sidorov, I. Yu. Moscow State University, Russia
Sobolev, S. I. Moscow State University, Russia
Trufanov, A. N. Perm Polytechnic University, Russia
Voevodin, Vad. V. Moscow State University, Russia
Zymbler, M. L. South Ural State University, Russia
 Contents

High Performance Architectures, Tools and Technologies

XP-COM Hybrid Software Package for Parallelization by Data. . . . . . . . . . . 3

Anton Baranov, Andrey Fedotov, Oleg Aladyshev, Evgeniy Kiselev,
and Alexey Ovsyannikov

Approach to Workload Analysis of Large HPC Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Pavel Shvets, Vadim Voevodin, and Dmitry Nikitenko

Parallelization of Algorithms in Set@l Language of Architecture-

Independent Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Ilya I. Levin, Alexey I. Dordopulo, Ivan V. Pisarenko,
and Andrey K. Melnikov

Solving the Problem of Detecting Similar Supercomputer Applications

Using Machine Learning Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Denis Shaikhislamov and Vadim Voevodin

Integrated Computational Environment for Grid Generation

Parallel Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Valery Il’in

Parallel Numerical Algorithms

Optimal Control of Chemical Reactions with the Parallel

Multi-memetic Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Maxim Sakharov, Kamila Koledina, Irek Gubaydullin,
and Anatoly Karpenko

On the Implementation of Taylor Models on Multiple Graphics Processing

Units for Rigorous Computations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Nikolay M. Evstigneev and Oleg I. Ryabkov

Combining Local and Global Search in a Parallel Nested

Optimization Scheme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Konstantin Barkalov, Ilya Lebedev, Maria Kocheganova,
and Victor Gergel

SART Algorithm Parallel Implementation with Siddon and MBR Methods

for Digital Linear Tomosynthesis Using OpenCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
N. S. Petrov, V. S. Linkov, and R. N. Ponomarenko
xii Contents

Developing an Efficient Vector-Friendly Implementation

of the Breadth-First Search Algorithm for NEC SX-Aurora TSUBASA . . . . . 131
Ilya V. Afanasyev, Vladimir V. Voevodin, Kazuhiko Komatsu,
and Hiroaki Kobayashi

Synchronous and Asynchronous Parallelism in the LRnLA Algorithms . . . . . 146

Anastasia Perepelkina and Vadim Levchenko

Parallel Combined Chebyshev and Least Squares Iterations

in the Krylov Subspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Yana Gurieva and Valery Il’in

Supercomputer Simulation

Block Model of Lithosphere Dynamics: New Calibration Method

and Numerical Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Valeriy Rozenberg

Parallel Computational Algorithm for the Simulation of Flows

with Detonation Waves on Fully Unstructured Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Alexandr I. Lopato, Artem G. Eremenko, Pavel S. Utkin,
and Dmitry A. Gavrilov

Using Supercomputer Technologies to Research the Influence of Abiotic

Factors on the Biogeochemical Cycle Variability in the Azov Sea . . . . . . . . . 209
Alexander I. Sukhinov, Yulia V. Belova, Alexander E. Chistyakov,
Alena A. Filina, Vladimir N. Litvinov, Alla V. Nikitina,
and Anton L. Leontyev

Simulating Relativistic Jet on the NKS-1P Supercomputer with Intel

Broadwell Computing Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Igor Kulikov, Igor Chernykh, Dmitry Karavaev, Ekaterina Genrikh,
Anna Sapetina, Victor Protasov, Alexander Serenko,
Vladislav Nenashev, Vladimir Prigarin, Ivan Ulyanichev,
and Sergey Lomakin

Parallel Technologies in Unsteady Problems of Soil Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Yury V. Perepechko, Sergey E. Kireev, Konstantin E. Sorokin,
Andrey S. Kondratenko, and Sherzad Kh. Imomnazarov

Parallel Implementation of Stochastic Simulation Algorithm for Nonlinear

Systems of Electron-Hole Transport Equations in a Semiconductor . . . . . . . . 251
Karl K. Sabelfeld and Anastasiya Kireeva

Application of High Performance Computations for Modeling Thermal

Fields Near the Wellheads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Elena N. Akimova, Mikhail Yu. Filimonov, Vladimir E. Misilov,
and Nataliia A. Vaganova
 Contents xiii

Algorithm for Numerical Simulation of the Coastal Bottom Relief

Dynamics Using High-Performance Computing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Alexander I. Sukhinov, Alexander E. Chistyakov, Elena A. Protsenko,
Valentina V. Sidoryakina, and Sofya V. Protsenko

Computer Design of Hydrocarbon Compounds with High Enthalpy

of Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
V. M. Volokhov, T. S. Zyubina, A. V. Volokhov, E. S. Amosova,
D. A. Varlamov, D. B. Lempert, and L. S. Yanovskiy

Optimizing Numerical Design of a Multi-mode Aero-Cooled

Climatic Wind Tunnel Nozzle on a PNRPU High-performance
Computational Complex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Stanislav L. Kalyulin, Vladimir Ya. Modorskii, Anton O. Mikryukov,
Ivan E. Cherepanov, Danila S. Maksimov, and Vasily Yu. Petrov

Applying Parallel Calculations to Model the Centrifugal Compressor

Stage of a Gas Transmittal Unit in 2FSI Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Ivan E. Cherepanov, Vladimir Ya. Modorskii, Stanislav L. Kalyulin,
Anton O. Mikryukov, Danila S. Maksimov, and Anna V. Babushkina

Developing Cyber Infrastructure and a Model Climatic Wind Tunnel Based

on the PNRPU High-Performance Computational Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Danila S. Maksimov, Vladimir Ya. Modorskii, Grigory F. Masich,
Stanislav L. Kalyulin, Anton O. Mikryukov, Mikhail I. Sokolovskii,
and Ivan E. Cherepanov

Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

High Performance Architectures, Tools
and Technologies
 XP-COM Hybrid Software Package
for Parallelization by Data

Anton Baranov1(B) , Andrey Fedotov2 , Oleg Aladyshev1 , Evgeniy Kiselev1 ,

and Alexey Ovsyannikov1
1
Joint Supercomputer Center of the RAS, Moscow, Russia
antbar@mail.ru
2
The Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia
andrey university@mail.ru

Abstract. The paper discusses the XP-COM hybrid software package.

XP-COM is a combination of X-COM and Pyramid, two well-known pack-
ages for parallelization by data. The parallelization overhead introduced
by X-COM and Pyramid has been presented in the previous studies. The
X-COM software showed the best results in iterating over string values
read from a file. The Pyramid software showed the least overhead when
iterating through value combinations of several parameters. The authors
used X-COM data transfer infrastructure as a basis for the XP-COM
package development. The parameter value combination enumeration
mechanism of the Pyramid software was used as the computational work
separation procedure. The resulting XP-COM hybrid software was discov-
ered to show better performance than both X-COM and Pyramid.

Keywords: HPC · Supercomputer · Parallelization by data · X-COM

software · Pyramid software · Parallelization overhead · XP-COM

1 Software for Parallelization by Data

Parallelization by data is parallel computing technique often used to solve a
number of important applied computing problems such as virtual screening,
search for simple numbers, password strength checking, etc. In these problems, to
all the input data set elements the same computing sequence (applied algorithm)
is applied. The input data set is distributed between processes or threads of a
parallel program. Each process (thread) performs an independent portion of
the input data set. There is no information interconnect between the processes
(threads) of the parallel program. Typically, parallelization by data is used in
distributed environments of volunteer computing [1]. However, such problems
are often solved using separate supercomputers.
Assume our algorithm can be implemented as a single sequential program
(SSP), for which the input data portion is determined by one or more param-
eter values. The input data pool is formed as a set of all possible SSP param

c Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

L. Sokolinsky and M. Zymbler (Eds.): PCT 2020, CCIS 1263, pp. 3–15, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55326-5_1
4 A. Baranov et al.

eters values in all their combinations. The well-known HashCat password crack-
ing utility [2] is a typical SSP example. During parallelizing by data on the
supercomputer, one or several SSP instances with the different input parame-
ters values are executed at each supercomputer node. The parallel computing in
this case consists of launching the SSP instances on the whole available set of
nodes. Such parallelization model is referred to as a SSP model.
In the previous studies [3] experimental comparison of Pyramid [4], BOINC
[5], and X-COM [6,7] software packages was made. The experiments were car-
ried out at the separate supercomputer, not in a distributed environment. The
overhead costs introduced by each studied software were determined for a set of
typical tests. X-COM and Pyramid showed the best results, significantly ahead
of BOINC.
The Pyramid software package [4] is designed to operate on a computing
facility with a hierarchical structure. The computing facility consists of a central
server, cluster management servers, and computing nodes in clusters. The main
goal of creating the Pyramid software was to relieve the user of organizing par-
allel computing with parallelization by data. The user implements the applied
algorithm as a SSP, and Pyramid launches many SSP instances on computing
nodes and distribute the computational work between the running instances.
Pyramid is reliable and fault-tolerant. The failure of one or more computing
nodes or one or more clusters does not stop the computations but slows them
down. When a previously disabled node or cluster is fixed and enabled again,
Pyramid automatically begins to distribute the computing operations with the
repaired node. At the same time, Pyramid saves checkpoints at a specified fre-
quency to restore computation if the entire computer facility fails.
Designed by the specialists of Research Computing Center of Moscow State
University, X-COM [6] is written in Perl programming language, which makes it
one of the most lightweight means of parallelization by data. X-COM is based
on client-server architecture. X-COM server is in charge of dividing the original
task into blocks (jobs), distributing the jobs to the clients, coordinating all the
clients, checking the integrity and accumulating the results. Any computational
unit (workstation computer, cluster node, virtual machine) able to perform an
instance of an application program can act as a client. The clients are computing
the blocks of the application task (jobs received from the server), requesting jobs
from the server, and transferring results to the server.
X-COM operates in a distributed environment, but can be run on a separate
supercomputer. Pyramid operates on a separate supercomputer only. X-COM
requires the user to develop server and client management programs. Pyramid
requires the job passport only. With X-COM, checkpoint saving is the care up to
the management program developer. Pyramid saves the checkpoints automati-
cally.
The X-COM and Pyramid comparison [3] carried out at Joint Supercomputer
Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (JSCC RAS) provided the following
results. X-COM shows many-fold better results with processing the strings read
from a text file. Highly likely, X-COM has a more advanced data transfer subsys-
tem. Pyramid has showed many-fold better results with processing several SSP
 XP-COM Software 5

parameters. This is natural, since Pyramid implements a comprehensive search

of all possible combinations for several SSP parameters.
To combine the Pyramid and X-COM advantages, it was decided to develop
a hybrid software package called XP-COM.

2 XP-COM Hybrid Software Package Architecture

and Algorithms
To run multiple SSP instances, X-COM requires a developed server and client
control programs. The server part provides the logic for dividing the computa-
tional work into portions, and the client part runs SPP with the parameters of
the next portion. X-COM transfers the work portion from a server to a client and
gets the results back. X-COM itself does not contain mechanisms for dividing
the work and starting the SPP, the user has to develop the corresponding control
programs as a programmer. The ability to divide computational work and start
multiple SPP instances, to save the checkpoints for the SSP computing model
as a part of the X-COM server and client control programs is the main idea of
XP-COM hybrid software.
The following engines were adopted from Pyramid to implement XP-COM
hybrid software:

– Computational work distribution (division) mechanism

– Automatic checkpoints saving
– Launching SSP with the specified parameters

The source codes of these engines were adopted from Pyramid and imple-
mented as separate program modules:

1. The computational work distribution module called Divisio. Divisio operates

at the X-COM server side. It assigns data chunks to computing clients at
X-COM server request and saves checkpoints at the regular intervals.
2. The SSP launching module called Divisio client. Divisio client operates at the
X-COM client side. It converts the data chunks received from X-COM server
into the SSP actual parameters, and runs SSP.

These modules were embedded into X-COM through the server and client
management programs developed by the authors in Perl language, as shown in
Fig. 1. The management programs were developed in accordance with the rules
described in the X-COM user manual [7].
The interaction of the XP-COM client and server parts is carried out accord-
ing to the following algorithm.

1. Starting the server side and the Divisio module

2. Starting X-COM clients
3. Requesting data portion by the client from the server
4. Chipping data portion with Divisio, if not possible, the work finish
6 A. Baranov et al.

XP-COM Client XP-COM Server

X-COM Client HTTP X-COM Server

X-COM Client X-COM data transfer X-COM Server

management infrastructure management
program program
Divisio_client Input data
module exec pool
IPC

Divisio module
exec with chunk
SSP Results

XP-COM client container XP-COM server container

images image
JSCC RAS
local Docker repository

Fig. 1. The XP-COM software package architecture

5. Sending chipped data portion to the client from Divisio through the server
6. Processing received data portion by the client (Divisio client launching)
7. Sending the processing results to the server
8. Recording the results received from the client
9. Go to step 3

Note the important detail of pairing the X-COM and Pyramid softwares. In
Pyramid, the sharing and accounting of the computing work is carried out by
the client threads’ numbers. X-COM does not have client numbering. To enable
the pairing, Divisio uses the dynamically allocated client numbers. The client
is automatically assigned the lowest available number when requested the next
data portion. The assigned number is recorded in the portion metadata and is
considered occupied from this moment. Having completed the data portion pro-
cessing, the client returns the result to the server. The result metadata includes
the client number received earlier with the data portion. When the server receives
the result, the number is freed.
XP-COM was implemented as the Docker containers to run in the super-
computer job management system. Two container images were formed – for the
server and the client parts of XP-COM. The container images were placed in
the JSCC RAS Docker local repository as considered in [8]. The Russian par-
allel jobs management system called SUPPZ [9] was used. The SUPPZ is the
main job management system used on the JSCC RAS supercomputers. When
the job starts, SUPPZ extracts XP-COM server and client images from the
Docker local repository, copies them to the supercomputer nodes allocated for
the job, launches container instances on the allocated nodes, connecting them to
a separate virtual network. After that, XP-COM processes begin to run in the
containers.
 XP-COM Software 7

3 Methods the Performance Evaluating of Software

Systems for Parallelization by Data

Various methods can be used to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of

parallelization by data software systems. The paper [10] considers several meth-
ods to evaluate the X-COM effectiveness, such as evaluating the effectiveness
by the number of redundant losses that are inevitable while ensuring reliability
by the computing duplication method. The performance of parallelization by
data can be assessed as a difference between the reference and the real resource
allocation schedule as proposed in [11]. A benchmark suite which consists of a
synthetic micro-benchmarks and real-world Hadoop applications was proposed
in [12] to evaluate the performance using MapReduce. Both the job running time
and the throughput (the number of tasks completed per minute) are evaluated.
The MapReduce program completion time is estimated in [13] depending on the
varying input dataset sizes and given cluster resources. The word count test is
used in [14–16] to assess the software systems performance. The test that counts
all the occurring RGB colors in a given bitmap image and the test that computes
a line that best fits a file containing are used in [15]. The test that counts user
visits to the Internet pages is used for performance evaluation [16].
The performance estimate approach proposed in [10] as the ratio of the time
spent on organizing and supporting computations to the computing time itself
seems to be the most suitable for us. In fact, it is proposed to evaluate the
computing environment overhead costs. In relation to the SSP model, overhead
costs can be determined as follows [3].
Let the SSP process the whole input data on one CPU core for a certain
time T . If parallelization by data is applied at p CPU cores, the time T of
processing the same size of input data will ideally be reduced by factor p. This
will not happen in reality because of the overhead costs to the parallelization:
time costs for data transfer among the computing nodes, for requesting the
services (DBMS, web-server, scheduler), delays between receiving the data and
starting its processing, between the end of processing and the start of the results
transfer.
An elementary computational job was defined in [3] as processing of an indi-
visible (atomic, elementary) input data chunk, such as a string generated from
input actual arguments or read from a text file, or a comprehensive search of
values at a certain minimal range of the input data. Elementary job cannot be
divided into smaller parts and, therefore, cannot be parallelized.
Let an elementary job be done for the time τ , and the entire size of the input
data make N elementary chunks. Consequently, at one CPU core the entire size
of the input data will be processed for the time T1 = N · τ . In case of using p
CPU cores the ideal time of the processing Tp will be
T1 N ·τ
Tp = =
p p
8 A. Baranov et al.

Let the researched system process the input data at p CPU cores for the time
Texp (p). Then the share of the overhead costs μ introduced by the researched
system will make
Tp N ·τ
μ=1− =1−
Texp (p) p · Texp (p)
As we can see, the overhead share depends on the parameters N , τ and p.
The values of these parameters were varied in [3] to assess the dynamic pattern
of the overhead costs.
Let us emphasize one feature of the experiments carried out in [3]. As already
mentioned, X-COM is a framework for parallezation by data. It is up to the
user to implement an SSP model in the X-COM framework as server and client
control programs. Unlike the X-COM user, the Pyramid user does not have
to be a programmer. In [3] the control programs implementing the SSP model
for X-COM were developed from the position of an “amateur programmer”,
without any optimization, to put X-COM and Pyramid in the same comparative
conditions. The time spent by the user on preparation for the calculation of the
SSP model was approximately the same to compare the software systems. Thus,
the overhead estimation for X-COM is relatively qualitative in its nature. In a
way, the “amateur” control program for X-COM and the “professional” work
dividing procedure in Pyramid were compared in [3].
For the experiments carried out in [3] three typical SSP test cases were used.
The Opp one test simulated the SSP operation with one input parameter, the
actual value of which determined the input numerical data range. The Opp three
test simulated the SSP operation with three input parameters and enumerated
over all combinations of their actual values. The Opp file test simulated the pro-
cessing of strings read from a text file. Each read string was the actual value of
an input parameter. The SSP computations were modeled in [3] by the sleep()
call, i.e. the test procedure “fell asleep” for a given time, simulating the com-
putations. The md5 hash computed a certain number of times was used in this
work instead the sleep() function call.

4 XP-COM Experimental Performance Assessment

The experiments were carried out at the JSCC RAS on the MVS-10P OP super-
computer (Broadwell subsystem). The tests were performed in the share mode
under the SUPPZ control. The Broadwell subsystem of MVS-10P OP includes
136 nodes based on Intel Xeon E5-2697Av4 (Broadwell) processor. Each node
has 2 processors of 16 cores (32 cores per node) and 128 GB RAM. Summary
subsystem peak performance is 182 TFlops. Nodes are united by the Intel Omni-
Path interconnect.
The test cases were formed as SUPPZ jobs submitted to the SUPPZ queue.
Each time a job was run, the XP-COM server and client container images
were downloaded from the local Docker repository, and the XP-COM container
instances were launched at the nodes allocated by the SUPPZ. The allocated
 XP-COM Software 9

nodes were cleaned after the job was completed. One XP-COM client was
launched per one CPU core.
Pyramid and X-COM test launched in the common job queue mode on the
Broadwell subsystem showed that the overhead costs were no less than the results
[3] obtained in exclusive access to the cluster. In this regard, the best results from
[3] were used to compare the software systems.
Figure 2 shows the XP-COM overhead costs dependence for the test cases
Opp one, Opp three and Opp file with a variable cores number, with N =
100, 000 elementary chunks, with the number of md5 hash calculations per chunk
1, 300, 000 times (∼1 s) and one-time chunk size per client in 98 elementary
chunks.

Opp_One Opp_Three Opp_File

50
45
40
35
Overhead costs, %

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024
Number of clients (cores)

Fig. 2. The XP-COM overhead costs dependence for the test cases

The graph (Fig. 2) demonstrates that increasing the clients’ number to 256
leads to a gradual increase in the overhead costs. The overhead does not exceed
6% with the clients number under 256. With a further increase in the clients’
number, there is a sharp increase in the overhead costs.
Figure 3 shows a comparative diagram for XP-COM, X-COM and Pyra-
mid overhead costs for the Opp one test with a variable cores number, with
a 100,000 elementary chunks, with the number of md5 hash calculations per
chunk 1,300,000 times (∼1 s). Overhead costs data for X-COM and Pyramid
are taken from [3]. As you can see, the hybrid XP-COM software showed better
performance.
Figure 4 shows the XP-COM overhead costs dependency graphs for the
Opp one test with a variable processing time of an elementary data chunk (the
number of md5 hash calculations), with a data volume of 100,000 elementary
chunks and the one-time chunk size per client in 98.
10 A. Baranov et al.

8
7
6
Overhead costs, %

5
4 XP-COM

3 X-COM

2 Pyramid

1
0
4 8 16 32 64
Number of clients (cores)

Fig. 3. The XP-COM, X-COM and Pyramid overhead costs for the Opp one test

The graphs (Fig. 4) show that the overhead costs decrease as the elementary
chunk processing time increases, regardless of the computing nodes number.
This is primarily due to the fact that the XP-COM server accessing frequency
is reduced, which in turn reduces the client wait time after the data portion
request.

10
9
8
Overhead costs, %

7
6
5 32 cores
4 128 cores
3 256 cores
2
1
0
650 1300 2600 6500

Number of md5 calculaƟons, thousands Ɵmes

Fig. 4. The XP-COM overhead costs dependency graphs for the Opp one test

Figure 5 shows the XP-COM, X-COM and Pyramid overhead costs diagram
for the Opp file test with a variable cores number, data volume of 100,000
elementary chunks, and the md5 hash calculations number per chunk 1,300,000
 XP-COM Software 11

times (∼1 s). The X-COM and Pyramid overhead costs data are taken from [3].
It is seen that the XP-COM hybrid software shows the best performance.

16
14
12
Overhead costs, %

10
8 XP-COM

6 X-COM

4 Pyramid

2
0
4 8 16 32 64
Number of clients (cores)

Fig. 5. The XP-COM, X-COM and Pyramid overhead costs for the Opp file test

Figure 6 shows the XP-COM overhead costs dependency graphs for the
Opp file test with a variable chunk processing time (the md5 hash calculations
number), with the data volume of 100,000 elementary chunks and the one-time
chunk size per client in 98 elementary chunks.
From the graphs (Fig. 6) we can conclude that the overhead costs decrease
with the increase in the elementary chunk processing time regardless of the
computing nodes number.

10
9
8
Overhead costs, %

7
6
5 32 cores
4 128 cores
3 256 cores
2
1
0
650 1300 2600 6500

Number of md5 calculaƟons, thousands Ɵmes

Fig. 6. The XP-COM overhead costs dependency graphs for the Opp file test
12 A. Baranov et al.

Figure 7 shows the XP-COM, X-COM and Pyramid overhead costs diagram
for the Opp three test with a variable cores number, a data volume of 100,000
elementary chunks, and the md5 hash calculations number per chunk 1,300,000
times (∼1 s). The X-COM and Pyramid overhead costs data are taken from [3].
We can see that the XP-COM hybrid software shows the best performance.

25

20
Overhead costs, %

15
XP-COM
10 X-COM
Pyramid
5

0
4 8 16 32 64
Number of clients (cores)

Fig. 7. The XP-COM, X-COM and Pyramid overhead costs diagram for the Opp three
test

Figure 8 shows the XP-COM overhead costs dependency graphs for the
Opp three test with a variable chunk processing time (the md5 hash calculations
number), with the data volume of 100,000 elementary chunks and the one-time
chunk size per client in 98 elementary chunks.

10
9
8
Overhead costs, %

7
6
5 32 cores
4 128 cores
3 256 cores
2
1
0
650 1300 2600 6500

Number of md5 calculaƟons, thousands Ɵmes

Fig. 8. The XP-COM overhead costs dependency graphs for the Opp three test
 XP-COM Software 13

From the graphs (Fig. 8) it can be concluded that the overhead costs decrease
with the increase in the elementary chunk processing time regardless of the
computing nodes number.

5 Conclusion
To combine the advantages of X-COM and Pyramid software systems for par-
allelization by data, the XP-COM hybrid system is proposed. The basis of the
hybrid software was X-COM data transfer infrastructure. Effective engines for
the computational work sharing and the checkpoints saving were borrowed from
the Pyramid software. These engines were implemented as separate program
modules called from the X-COM management programs.
The overall performance of the developed hybrid software was ahead of both
X-COM and Pyramid. However, there was a sharp increase in the overhead
costs with more than 256 clients in all tests. The problem may be due to the
fact that XP-COM uses a two-rank structure with no intermediate servers, and
the X-COM server fails to process all client requests. Clients that do not receive
the next data portion in response to a request, send the request again after a
timeout. During waiting, the client is idle and is unable to do computations.
In the future, the problem can be solved in one of the following ways:
1. Reducing the number of computing clients. If one XP-COM client on one node
is run, the XP-COM server load will significantly decrease. A working client
will have to launch several SSPs (in accordance with the job passport). The
procedure for starting and monitoring the SSP instances can be implemented
with the Divisio client module.
2. Adding intermediate servers. The most powerful nodes are capable of host-
ing intermediate servers to accumulate a part of the total work and serve
the downstream clients. This approach is directly recommended by the X-
COM developers [17]. A tree structure will reduce the main server workload,
since client requests will be evenly distributed between several servers. This
approach involves making changes to the Divisio module, since the Divisio
analogue should operate on each of the intermediate servers. The main server
should arrange the computational work issuance to intermediate servers and
the checkpoints saving.

Notes and Comments. The work was carried out within the RFBR grant (project
No. 18-07-01325 A), the grant agreement with the Ministry of Science and Higher
Education of the Russian Federation (No. 075-15-2019-1636), and the framework
the JSCC RAS state assignment.

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 Approach to Workload Analysis
of Large HPC Centers

Pavel Shvets , Vadim Voevodin(B) , and Dmitry Nikitenko

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, 1, bld. 4, Moscow, Russia

pavel.shvets.srcc@gmail.com, vadim@parallel.ru, dan@parallel.ru

Abstract. In order to ensure high performance of a large supercom-

puter facility, its management must collect and analyze information on
many different aspects of this complex operation in a timely manner. One
of the most important directions in this area is to analyze the supercom-
puter workload. In particular, it is necessary to detect the subject areas
being the most active in terms of consumed node-hours, the applica-
tion packages using the GPU with the least efficiency and the reasons
for that, the frequency of launching multi-process jobs etc. To do this,
it is necessary to collect different types of data from various sources,
integrate them within a single solution and develop methods for their
analysis. In this article, we describe our approach to solving this prob-
lem and show real-life examples of results obtained on the Lomonosov-2
supercomputer.

Keywords: High performance computing · Supercomputers ·

Workload analysis · Job flow · Efficiency analysis · Usage statistics ·
System software

1 Introduction
Any modern large-scale supercomputer, e.g. from the Top500 list [10] of the most
powerful systems in the world, is a highly sophisticated complex containing mil-
lions of different software and hardware components. The development of such
system’s architecture and its installation are very difficult and time-consuming
tasks, requiring the participation of many highly qualified specialists from dif-
ferent fields, not to mention the huge financial costs. All these efforts are needed
to create a fully functional high performance solution that will help scientists or
industry workers to perform computations as quickly as possible, which, in turn,
is needed to speed up their research.
Furthermore, it takes a lot of effort to maintain such system, so the developed
supercomputer stays fully functional without any performance degradation. Any
large-scale supercomputer has a dedicated support team that constantly moni-
tors and controls the state and proper workload of the HPC system. One of the
main tasks for this support team is to minimize the amount of idle or unavailable
computational resources. Based on this, it is not surprising that there are a lot
c Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
L. Sokolinsky and M. Zymbler (Eds.): PCT 2020, CCIS 1263, pp. 16–30, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55326-5_2
 Approach to Workload Analysis of Large HPC Centers 17

of research aimed at studying the nature of failures that occur in supercomputer

components to help system administrators to identify their root causes (e.g. [9]),
minimize failure influence [14] and even predict when such failures could occur in
the future [5]. To analyze and optimize the efficiency of a particular application,
even more research is conducted: a wide spectrum of various performance anal-
ysis tools such as profilers, trace analyzers, debuggers etc. have been developed
and are still being evolved.
Thus, obviously, significant efforts are made to reach and maintain the sus-
tained supercomputer performance at the possible maximum. In light of this, it
is somewhat surprising that another significant aspect of this problem is under-
considered. We are talking about the analysis of the HPC center workload. This
aspect is aimed at analyzing the structure and performance statistics of all jobs
running on the HPC system, as well as the behavior of different hardware and
software components of the supercomputer that can influence the job flow execu-
tion. What is the average performance (in terms of the CPU/GPU load, memory
usage intensity, etc) of all jobs running on the supercomputer? Which supercom-
puter partition is least efficiently used and why? In what subject areas the fre-
quency of large jobs is higher and what is their efficiency? Unfortunately, admin-
istrators and management of supercomputer centers usually cannot answer most
of these questions, perceiving the supercomputer functioning as a “black box”.
In such situation, the system performance may be easily lost due to the ineffi-
cient use of the computational resources caused by the lack of information of the
supercomputer job flow behavior.
To solve this problem, the development of an approach to analyzing the HPC
system workload has been started. For this purpose, we collect and integrate a
variety of input data on the supercomputer functioning and performance, such
as job performance data; information on users, projects, scientific areas; data on
used packages, compilers, libraries and file system usage data to develop a unified
way of studying different aspects of the supercomputer behavior. This work is
done by developing a TASC software suite (described in [17]), a software solution
created by the authors of this paper to help any HPC user detect performance
issues in their jobs, find root causes and determine possible ways to eliminate
them. TASC consists of 3 subsystems. The first one automatically performs pri-
mary analysis of all jobs to detect possible performance issues and promptly
notify users about them. The second subsystem is aimed at the detailed anal-
ysis of a particular program, using the information about possible root causes
of efficiency degradation collected during primary analysis. The third one, being
the goal of the current research described in this paper, is devoted to help sys-
tem administrators and HPC center management study efficiency of the overall
supercomputer functioning.
The main contribution of this paper is the development and implementation
of new methods for collection, integration and analysis of the supercomputer
workload data to help administrators and management, as well as HPC center
users, study its behavior. TASC software is planned to be made open-source,
with its source code available via Github in the near future.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 1806–1838.

When the British took forcible possession of the Cape colony a second time, in
1806, they found a total population of 74,000. Of these 17,000 were native
Hottentots, 30,000 were slaves of African, Asiatic and mixed blood, and 27,000
were of European descent—mostly Dutch, with a sprinkling of German and
French. Nearly all spoke the dialect of Holland Dutch, into which the speech of a
people so mixed and so isolated had degenerated.

In the beginning of the second English regime there was a fair promise of peace
and of the gradual fusion of the Africander and the English elements in a
homogeneous people. The Dutch, from whom the Africanders were principally
descended, and the English were cognate nations. Though separated as to
national life and history [69]by fourteen centuries, they possessed the same
fundamental principles that give tone to character—the two languages were so
far alike that the one people found it easy to learn the speech of the other; they
both loved liberty, and they both held the Protestant faith. On the surface of
things there was every reason to expect that the common features in blood,
language, political ideals and religion would lead to kindly intercourse,
intermarriages, and a thorough blending of the two races in one.

The first few years of experience seemed to strengthen this promise of good into
certainty. Two successive British governors were men of righteousness and
wisdom. The restrictions upon trade imposed by the Dutch East India Company
were removed. Schools were founded. Measures were taken to improve the
breed of horses and cattle. The trade in slaves was forbidden, and missionaries
were sent among the natives. The administration of this period was careful to
leave untouched as far as possible the local institutions, the official use of the
Dutch language, and the Dutch-Roman law, which had become the common law
of all civilized South Africa, both Dutch and English.

Under these favoring influences the two peoples [70]became friendly and began
to intermarry. In 1820 the British government promoted emigration from England
and Scotland to South Africa, to the extent of about five thousand. From that
time there was a steady increase of the population from Great Britain, and to a
much smaller extent from Germany, France and other European nations. The
newcomers from continental Europe soon lost their nationality and learned to
speak either English or the local Dutch dialect.

The promise of peace, and of the complete fusion of all the elements in one
people loyal to the British crown, was not fulfilled. The causes of the failure—
then insidious, but now easy to detect and analyze—must be considered at this
point, for only in their light can we understand the Africander people and form a
just judgment of their subsequent course.

Doubtless the colonists were influenced, to a greater degree than they realized,
by the natural dislike of any civilized people to be transferred to the rule of a
foreign nation. They were not the kind of people to make much of the fact that
the Dutch and the English sprang from a common origin more than fourteen
hundred years before—if they had any knowledge of it. To them [71]the British
were a different race, and the British government was a kind of unloved step-
father who had first conquered dominion over them by the strong hand and then
bought them with money, as perpetual chattels, from their degenerate mother
country.

Another cause of the failure to amalgamate was in the now fixed character of the
South African Dutch. Few of them dwelt or cared to dwell in village communities.
Some were farmers, it is true, living in touch with the towns; but most of them
were stockmen roaming in a pastoral life over large tracts of the country—almost
without local habitation. At long intervals they saw something of their always
distant next neighbor ranchmen, but they saw nothing of the life in the few
colonial towns. The intercourse between these pastoral Africanders and the
British was so infrequent, and so limited as to scope, that the two races knew
but little of one another. As a result, the process of social amalgamation, going
on at Cape Town and in some other places where the population lived in
communities, made little progress in the country districts where the great
majority of the Africanders dwelt.
 LIGHTHOUSE, DURBAN.

A single incident, of no great proportions in itself, must be given a separate

mention among [72]the causes of estrangement between the two civilized races
in South Africa. It was not so much the cause of a new line of cleavage as it was
the wedge driven to the head into one of the existing lines. In 1815 a Boer was
accused of seriously injuring a native servant. When the authorities sent out a
small force to arrest the accused his neighbors rallied to his defense, and a brief
resistance was offered to the serving of the warrant. The uprising—a mere
neighborhood affair—was easily suppressed. Several prisoners were taken, six
of whom were condemned to death. Five of the condemned were hanged, and
their women—who had fought beside them—were compelled to stand by and
witness the execution. Some promise of reprieve had been made by the
governor, Lord Charles Somerset. The crowd of Africanders stood about the
gallows on the fatal day, hoping to the last moment that their friends would be
spared, but no reprieve came. The tragedy was completed, and the story of it
went into the Africander folklore, becoming, and remaining to this day, a part of
the nursery education of every Africander child. They named the ridge on which
the execution took place, “Schlachter’s Nek,” which, being interpreted, is
“Butcher’s Ridge.” Canon [73]Knox Little, in his late work on South Africa, is
authority for the statements that Lord Somerset actually reprieved the
condemned men, that the reprieve reached the Field-Cornet appointed to carry
out the execution in good time to save the victims, and that the Field-Cornet
executed the death warrant having the governor’s reprieve in his pocket, being
actuated to the murderous deed by private spite. The Canon adds that the Field-
Cornet was so sure that he, himself, would be punished for his iniquity that he
committed suicide. It is to be devoutly hoped that the learned Canon is well
informed both as to the governor’s purpose of mercy and the Cornet’s motive for
suicide. Whatever the interior facts may have been, they were unknown to the
Africanders. The cruel act—justified by the doers as a piece of necessary
firmness—caused bitter and widespread resentment at the time, and continues
to foster anti-British feeling among all the Dutch of South Africa.

Another cause that made for disruption was an unwarrantable and most unwise
interference of the British authorities with two cherished and guaranteed rights of
the colonists—the old system of local government, and the use of the Dutch
language in official documents and legal proceedings. [74]In the forms of
government changes were made which greatly reduced the share formerly
enjoyed by the people in the control of their local affairs. The substituting of
English for Dutch in official and legal documents was a still more serious
grievance to a people of whom not more than one-sixth understood English.

Still another cause of disaffection grew out of wars with the Kaffirs on the
eastern border. Between 1779 and 1834 four struggles to the death occurred
between the whites and the tribes living beyond Fish river. By dint of hard
fighting the Kaffirs were finally subdued and driven forth into the Keiskama river
region. But for some reason the home government assumed that the colonists
had ill-treated the natives and provoked them to war. The dear bought victories
of the whites were rendered sterile by strict orders from the British Colonial
Office that the Kaffirs be allowed to return to their old haunts, where they once
more became a source of constant apprehension to the border farmers. This
action on the part of the home authorities was taken as an evidence of either
weakness or hostility to the Africander population, and led them to think of the
British Colonial Office as their enemy.

The final, probably the principal, cause, the one that fanned the slumbering
resentment of [75]many things into active flame, arose out of the slave question.
To the great detriment of their manhood and womanhood the early Dutch
colonists resorted to slave labor. From 1658 onward slavery had been practiced
throughout the colony, as, indeed, it had prevailed in most of the world. Trouble
began to grow out of it as early as 1737. In that year the first European mission
to the Hottentots was undertaken by the Moravian church. Their work was much
obstructed by the colonists, who even compelled one pastor to return to Europe
because he had administered Christian baptism to some native converts. In later
years most of the missionaries came from England, where the anti-slavery
sentiment was fast becoming dominant, and from 1810 the English missionaries
were cordially disliked by the colonists because they openly espoused the cause
of the slaves and reported every case of cruelty to them that came to their
knowledge. Possibly they sometimes exaggerated, as it has been asserted of
them, but this may be excused in the only friends the oppressed blacks had.
Besides this conflict between the slave-owners and the missionaries, there was
a steady increase of disaffection from a cognate cause—the temper and action
of the government towards the servile classes. In 1828, to the great [76]disgust of
the colonists, a civil ordinance placed all Hottentots and other free colored
people of South Africa on the same footing with the whites as to private civil
rights. This was followed by enactments restricting the authority of masters over
their slaves, the purpose being to mitigate the sufferings of the enslaved. Then
came the abolition of slavery in all British dominions, in 1834. To provide
compensation to slave-owners parliament set apart the sum of £20,000,000, to
be distributed to the several colonies where slavery had existed. The share of
this amount appropriated to the Cape Colony slave-holders was a little over
£3,000,000—a sum considerably below the equitable claim for the 39,000
slaves to be set free. Additional irritation was felt when it was found that the
certificates for compensation were made payable in London only, so that most of
the Cape slave-holders were forced to sell them to speculators at a heavy
discount. Many farmers were impoverished by the change, and labor became so
scarce and dear that it was impossible to carry on agriculture to profit.

Serious enough was the summing up of the causes that made for the disruption
of the Dutch and the English classes in Cape Colony. Hitherto the Africanders
had been able to indulge [77]their love of independence by living apart from the
centers of organized government. But now they had come under the conquering
hand of an alien and masterful people; they had been sold for money by their
mother country; they had been treated with undue sharpness and cruelty—as
witness the atrocity of Schlachter’s Nek; they had been spied upon and
denounced by the missionaries; they had been forced to transact all their official
and legal business in a foreign language which few of them understood; the
savage native blacks had been put on a level with them; their victory over the
Kaffirs at the cost of much blood had been rendered fruitless by the interference
of the home government; and now their slave property, which they had acquired
under law, had been taken away without adequate compensation, and the
further practice of slavery had been interdicted.

Rebellion against the power of Great Britain was hopeless and not to be thought
of. But they could go out into the wilderness and begin life anew where they
could follow the independent pastoral pursuits they preferred, enjoy the isolation
and solitude they loved, preserve all their ancient customs, and deal with
whatever native people they might find there in their own way, untrammeled by
the English who had undertaken [78]to govern them on principles which they
could neither understand nor approve.

Then began the “Great Trek” of 1836—the Africander secession and exodus,
leaving their former country to the possession of the English, and seeking
towards the north for a country wherein they would be free according to their
own ideals of liberty.

To the north and east of the utmost limit of European settlement in 1836 was a
region now divided into the Orange Free State, The Transvaal or South African
Republic, and the British colony of Natal. A few hunters had penetrated a little
way into it, and some enterprising border farmers had occasionally driven their
flocks and herds into the southern fringe of it in search of better pasture. It had
been described by the few who had explored it as having districts that were well
watered and fertile—a country of arable and pasture lands. Within it, and
bordering close to it on the northwest, were the fierce Zulus; and it abounded
with big game and enormous beasts of prey. But the Africanders knew what it
was to battle for place and for life with wild beasts and savage men. They had
less dread of these than of the experiences they foresaw for themselves under
the new government set up in Cape Colony. They made choice of the
[79]wilderness with all its hardships and perils, and set forth.

One may not be able to laud all their motives for taking this course, as we judge
such matters now, after more than half a century during which there has been a
constant brightening of the light of moral truth. It must be admitted that their
action was taken, in part, because of attachment to slavery. But condemnation of
that part of their complex motives should be modified by the thought that the
best peoples of the world were just then coming to see with John Wesley that
human slavery is “the sum of all villainies.” And it should be remembered that
nearly thirty years later than the Africander secession and exodus partly in the
interest of slavery, fully one-third of the free population of the United States
seceded from the Union wholly in the interest of the same “peculiar institution,”
claiming to hold their lands as well as their slave property, and that it cost the
nation a million lives and a thousand million dollars to transmute into American
practice the lofty sentiment embodied in the American Declaration of
Independence that, being created equal, all men have sacred rights to “life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

After discounting fairly the nobility of their [80]motives in making the “Great Trek,”
it will be allowed by every unprejudiced mind that with the less laudable were
mingled the love of manly independence and a reasonable resentment at
injustices done them in several matters, and that they were supported in the
hazardous undertaking by a courage equal to that of the Pilgrim Fathers in
venturing into the New England wilderness.

Not inaptly they compared themselves to Israel forsaking Egypt and beginning
the long wilderness journey to a land of promise, thinking it not unlikely that the
British governor, like Pharaoh, would pursue after them and try to turn them
back. But their Pharaoh, after consulting his legal adviser, decided to let them
go. It was serious, indeed, to lose so many stalwart and useful citizens, but there
was no legal way of stopping them; and it would not do to use the strong hand,
for Great Britain had just abolished slavery.

Slowly and in small parties the exodus began, for there must not be cattle
enough in one train to exhaust the pasture along the route they were to follow.
Places of rendezvous were appointed beforehand, where, at necessary intervals
of time, all might come together for mutual encouragement and counsel. The
men carried [81]arms for defense and for the killing of game for food. Long
experience in shooting, not for sport but for life itself, had made them almost
infallible marksmen—an accomplishment that proved their only salvation in the
fierce and long continued struggle that was before them.

Between 1836 and 1838 nearly 10,000 Africanders set forth, traveling in large
covered wagons drawn by strings of oxen numbering in some cases ten and
even twelve yoke. It is interesting to know that among the few survivors of that
historic pilgrimage is Paul Kruger, who, as a boy of ten years, helped to drive his
father’s cattle across velt and mountain range.

The story of the wanderings of these emigrant Africanders, and of their conflicts
with the warlike aborigines, is romantic to the highest degree, recalling in some
of its features the adventures of the eleventh century crusaders and of the
Spaniards in Mexico in the sixteenth century.

The first division that trekked, consisting of ninety-eight persons traveling in thirty
wagons, suffered defeat and almost ruinous disaster. They had penetrated into
the far northeast beyond the Vaal river—the territory of the present South African
Republic—where many of their number fell in battle with the natives. The
remainder [82]was rapidly thinned out by deaths from fever and from privation
caused by the wholesale destruction of their cattle by the tsetse-fly. After
incredible sufferings a mere handful escaped eastward to Delagoa Bay.

Another and larger division was formed by the union of several smaller parties at
a rocky peak called Thaba ’Ntshu, situated near the eastern border of what is
now the Orange Free State, and visible from Bloemfontein. This division soon
became involved in hostilities with a branch of the fierce Zulu race, known in
later history as the Matabele. The chief of this tribe, Moselekatse, was a general
of much talent and energy as well as a brave warrior. The Matabele, regarding
the Africanders as trespassers upon their territory, immediately provoked war by
attacking and massacring a small detached body of emigrants. Doubtless the
whites were intruders; but they knew that the Matabele had lately slaughtered or
driven out of that region the weaker Kaffir tribes, and therefore had no
conscientious scruples about meting to them the same treatment they had
measured to others. Indeed, the Africanders seem to have regarded their
relation to all the natives as being similar to that of the Israelites under Joshua to
the tribes of Canaan—they were there to possess the [83]land, and to reduce the
heathen inhabitants to submission and servitude by whatever means it might be
necessary to use. They now had an unprovoked and murderous attack to
avenge, which they proceeded to do with great promptitude and courage.
Hurling their whole strength against Moselekatse with the utmost fury, they
routed his greatly superior force with terrific slaughter, so that he fled before
them, far and fast, toward the northwest, not halting in his flight until he had
crossed the Limpopo River. There he, in turn, made havoc of the natives
dwelling between that stream and the Zambesi River, and established in that
region the Matabele kingdom in such strength that it continued a scourge to all
neighboring peoples until its overthrow in 1893. By the defeat and expulsion of
the Matabele the Africanders obtained possession of the immense territories
lying between the Orange River on the south and the Limpopo on the north. The
small communities with which they were able to people the country at first grew
in numbers until they became in course of time, the population of the Orange
Free State and the Transvaal Republic.

Meantime, the largest and best organized of the three pioneering expeditions,
under the capable leadership of Pieter Retief—a man much [84]respected by all
Africanders to this day—trekked eastward and then southward into the warmer
and more fruitful country lying between the Quathlamba range of mountains and
the Indian Ocean. Here they found a region practically emptied of native
inhabitants, save a not very numerous tribe of Zulus. Native wars had nearly
depopulated the country in 1820. They also found a small English settlement at
Fort Natal, where the flourishing town of Durban is now situated. These few
Englishmen had obtained a cession of the narrow maritime strip they occupied
from King Tshaka, and were maintaining a little republic as a temporary form of
government until they could obtain the status of a British colony. They had
applied for that standing in 1835, with the request that a legislature be granted
them. The British government was still considering their request, and was in
doubt as to whether it should occupy the fort and establish a colony there, when
the Africanders arrived. The settlement was so insignificant, and the prospective
action of the British authorities so uncertain that the emigrants paid little
attention to it.

Desiring to live on terms of peace with the Zulus the Africanders applied to their
king, Dingaan, for a cession of territory, rashly visiting [85]his kraal for that
purpose. The king made the grant readily enough, but the next day when they
were about to depart after drinking a farewell cup of native beer, he
treacherously ordered his warriors to slay his guests, alleging that they were
wizards. Pieter Retief, with all who had accompanied him on the embassy
perished that day, and the deed was followed up with an attack on a small body
of emigrants camped near by. The surprise was complete, and every soul was
massacred without mercy.

These atrocities roused the whole body of emigrants to execute vengeance, and
they did it so effectually that anniversaries of that day, December 16th, 1838, are
still observed by the people of the Transvaal. A mere handful of the Africanders
decimated and put to rout King Dingaan’s great host. They owed their victory to
expert markmanship and horsemanship as well as to their lion-like bravery and
prowess. Riding swiftly into easy range they fired a volley with deadly precision
and then wheeled and as swiftly rode out of reach of the Zulu assagais without
suffering harm. Several repetitions of this maneuver so reduced the fighting
force and the courage of the Zulus that they turned and fled precipitately. Two
years later, 1840, the king’s brother, Panda, then in rebellion against Dingaan,
[86]made common cause with the Africanders, and together they drove the
warlike king out of Zululand. Panda was then made king in his brother’s stead,
accepting the relation of vassal to the government of the Natalia Republic
established by the Africanders. They began about this time to survey and
apportion the land, and founded a city about sixty-five miles inland from Port
Natal, known ever since as Pietermaritzburg.

This action, with some others of a like nature, brought about the second contact
of Boer and Briton, the subject to be treated in the next chapter. [87]
[Contents]
CHAPTER V.
 SECOND CONTACT OF AFRICANDER AND BRITON—IN
NATAL.

The British authorities at Cape Colony suffered the Africanders to go forth in

peace on their Great Trek in search of isolation and independence. But the light
of succeeding events shows that, without formally announcing it at first, the
government held that the Africanders, go where they might, were to be
considered British subjects, and that any territory they might occupy would
become British territory by virtue of such occupancy.

About the time when the Republic of Natalia was being organized by the
Africanders a small detachment of British troops which had been landed at Port
Natal was withdrawn. This was construed by the emigrants as an abandonment
by the British government of all claim to the country.

It soon became evident, however, that the proceedings of the new settlers in
Natal were [88]narrowly watched by the authorities at the Cape, and that some of
the measures taken were looked upon with serious displeasure. The expulsion
of the Kaffirs, and an attempt to force them into a territory already occupied by
another tribe, were condemned as being likely to provoke further disorder and
conflict. And then, the Cape government, since the Great Trek, had asserted
over and over again its right to control the Africanders in any region they might
occupy, as subjects of the British crown. Their action in establishing a new and
independent white state on the coast was viewed with alarm; for it would
certainly affect trade with the interior tribes, and it might create a local rival to
Britain’s maritime supremacy within what had been considered her own borders.
Besides, the colonial government held that it was the natural guardian and
protector of the natives, and the attack of the Africanders on the Kaffirs living in
near neighborhood to the eastern borders of the Cape settlements was regarded
as an insolent aggression which ought to be resented and checked.
 PRESIDENT STEYN, ORANGE FREE STATE.

The Africanders, on the other hand, denied that the Cape government had any
authority over them. The British government, they averred, was territorial and
had no authority outside [89]the region hitherto formally claimed by the British
crown. And they had trekked out of the territory to which Great Britain had laid
claim purposely to be a separate, free and independent people. England’s thirty
million dollars had purchased such territorial rights and public improvements in
South Africa as were formerly possessed by the Netherlands, but her money
had not bought people.

At this time the British government was unwilling to add to its already too
extensive colonial possessions and the heavy responsibilities connected with
them. Nevertheless, after careful consideration of all that would be involved in
not checking the Africander aspirations and movements towards independence,
it was determined to establish British dominion over Port Natal and the territory
west of it as far as the crest of the Quathlamba chain of mountains and the
extension of them to the north. Pursuant to this policy a small military force
under Captain Smith was sent to take possession of Port Natal in 1842.

Smith’s command was selected from the post garrison at Umgazi River, and
consisted of only two hundred men and two field pieces. The route was over
nearly three hundred miles of sea coast in a wilderness state, across numerous
rivers, [90]and through the habitat of elephants and lions whose fresh spoor the
men saw frequently. After an arduous march of thirty-five days, from the 31st of
March to the 4th of May, they reached Port Natal and camped on a hill about six
miles from the town.

The resident English, while rejoiced to see the soldiers, were both amused and
alarmed when they saw how small a force had been sent to deal with a people
who could muster 1,500 well-armed men. Nothing daunted, however, Captain
Smith took a few of the artillery and marched into the town on the 5th day of
May, hauled down the flag of the Natalia Republic, hoisted in its place the British
Union Jack, and spiked the one Africander gun found beside the flagstaff.

For the next few days there was much diplomatic correspondence between the
Africander leader, A. W. Pretorius, and the English commander—without coming
to any terms of agreement. In the meantime the English moved their
encampment to a piece of level ground in front of the town, and the Africanders
began to gather a force at the old Dutch camping ground on the Congella, about
three miles from the British force. Captain Smith had written instructions to give
the “emigrant farmers” fifteen days [91]to come to a decision, which time the
farmers used in strengthening their ranks and intrenching their camp.
It will throw light on the policy pursued at this time by the Africanders to take into
view the action of a certain Dutch ship-master who put into Port Natal one day
before the arrival of the British. This man, Captain Reus, speaking as one
having authority, gave the Africanders to understand that the Dutch government
would espouse their cause and interest other European powers therein. He also
advised them to pursue an evasive policy, to avoid collision, and to keep the
English in play till their friends in Europe could act. In accordance with this
advice the Africanders drew up a declaration of allegiance to the Dutch
government, coupled with a protest against the occupation of the country by the
English. With the exception of the occasional lifting of cattle, they refrained from
acts of hostility.

Matters continued in this state until the 23d of May—three days in excess of the
fifteen allowed the Africanders for consideration—when a night attack was made
on their camp by the British. Captain Smith found his enemy on the alert, and
after a sharp engagement in which the British lost 103 men in killed, wounded
and missing, [92]and both the field guns, he retired to the fortified camp near Port
Natal.

The Africanders immediately laid siege to the British garrison and, doubtless,
would have compelled it to surrender in the end had it not been for the bravery
and endurance of a young Englishman named Richard King. It was six hundred
miles, across the breadth of Kaffraria, from Port Natal to Grahamstown, the
nearest point at which help for the beleaguered garrison could be found. Young
King made the distance, crossing two hundred rivers on the way, in ten days—
really in eight, for he was compelled by fever to rest two days out of the ten.

Immediately on receipt of the news at Grahamstown, a force under Lieutenant-

Colonel Cloete was dispatched by sea, and reached the famished garrison after
it had endured a close siege of thirty-one days. The approach of the re-
enforcements was resisted in an action in which the British succeeded in
landing, drove the Africanders from their positions, and effected a junction with
the garrison in Port Natal. The loss of life in this engagement was not severe,
but the siege was raised, and no fresh hostilities were undertaken at that time.
The Africanders withdrew to a camp about twelve miles from Port Natal, where
they awaited developments[93]—expecting to be attacked. But the British
commander was not in a position for immediate aggression. His provisions and
ammunition were to be landed, and there were safe magazines to be provided
and strategic posts to be established.
On the 30th of June, 1842, A. W. Pretorius, commandant of the Africander force
—now four hundred strong—sent a communication to Lieutenant-Colonel
Cloete, asking if he wished to confer with them. The reply was to the effect that
no negotiations would be entered into without a previous declaration by the
Africanders of their submission to the British government.

On the 3rd of July Mr. Pretorius again wrote the British commander, complaining
that the Kaffirs were committing serious outrages upon his people and
plundering them of their cattle, which were being sold to the English. He also
informed the commander that, anxious as they were to put an end to the war
and so prevent all future bloodshed, the Africanders found it impossible to
accede to the condition imposed as a necessary preliminary to negotiations for
peace, viz.: that the Africanders should declare their submission to the British
crown. Mr. Pretorius added, as a reason for this, that they had [94]already made
over the country to the king of the Netherlands, and had invoked his protection.

Lieutenant-Colonel Cloete replied on the same date, deploring the melancholy

prospect of continued war, which would doubtless be complicated with such
barbarities as the native savages might be expected to perpetrate. But he
maintained that the Africanders were themselves responsible for that prospect,
because of their determined acts of hostility to the British government. He
intimated that, if they were sincere in the professed desire to avert the coming
bloodshed, there would be nothing degrading in giving in their submission to her
Britannic Majesty’s government, and assured them that there was every
disposition on the part of the British authorities to make the final adjustment of
affairs both just and generous toward the emigrant farmers. He also expressed
much regret that they had allowed themselves to be deceived with regard to the
intentions of the King of Holland by a person possessed of no authority to act in
the matter. He should be happy, he added in closing, to use his best efforts to
prevent acts of violence by the Zulus and Kaffirs, but felt his inability to do much
in that respect as long as the Africanders continued in arms against her
Majesty’s authority, and thus gave these tribes reason to think [95]that whatever
injury done to her rebellious subjects must be pleasing to her government.

The diplomatic correspondence was prolonged into 1843, when a meeting

between Mr. Pretorius and other Africander leaders and Lieutenant-Colonel
Cloete attended by three or four advisers took a place at Pietermaritzburg. The
outcome of the conference was a treaty by which Natal was declared a British
colony, but it was remarkably indefinite as to other particulars. The Africanders
were to acknowledge themselves British subjects, but were not required to take
the oath of allegiance to the queen. The guns they had captured, as well as all
their own ordnance, were to be given up. All public and private property was to
be restored to the rightful owners or custodians. All prisoners were to be
released, and a general amnesty was to be proclaimed to all persons who had
been engaged in hostilities against her Majesty’s troops and authority, with the
exception of four persons, among whom was Mr. Pretorius. By a subsequent
article in the treaty the lieutenant-colonel included Mr. Pretorius in the amnesty
in consideration of his valuable services and co-operation in arranging the final
adjustment of the terms of surrender.

The Volksraad of the little Africander republic [96]submitted to the terms of the
treaty, and to the British administration, in much bitterness and wrath, protesting
vehemently but without effect against a certain leveling up process, introduced
soon after the transfer of authority, by which the savage blacks were given equal
civil rights with the whites.

How the Africanders of Natal in general received the new regime, and how they
acted under it, will be the subject of another chapter.

THE VAAL RIVER.

The annexation of the young republic by the English defeated the first attempt of
the Africanders to secure access to the sea. It seemed to be a turning point in
the history of South Africa, for by it Great Britain obtained command of the east
coast, and established a new center of British influence in a part of the country
which has come to be called the garden of Africa. Moreover, it opened the way
for the acquisition of large contiguous territories in Zululand and in Tongaland.

It has been said that if the little Dutch republic had been left to itself the natives
would have suffered under a more rigorous treatment than they have
experienced at the hands of the British government, and that the internal
dissensions which became quite serious during its brief history would have
necessitated British interference [97]in the general interest of European South
Africa. But one cannot feel perfect confidence in uninspired prophecy. And one
cannot repress the feeling that the people who had trekked into an unclaimed
and unoccupied country for the sake of being isolated from the British, who had
subdued the savage Zulu tribes and set up a civilized government of their own,
were seized of sacred rights to peaceful possession and independence. [98]
[Contents]