iowarp-core 1.5.1

IOWarp Context Management Platform

IOWarp Core

A Comprehensive Platform for Context Management in Scientific Computing

Overview · Components · Getting Started · Documentation · Contributing

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Overview

IOWarp Core is a unified framework that integrates multiple high-performance components for context management, data transfer, and scientific computing. Built with a modular architecture, IOWarp Core enables developers to create efficient data processing pipelines for HPC, storage systems, and near-data computing applications.

IOWarp Core provides:

• High-Performance Context Management: Efficient handling of computational contexts and data transformations
• Heterogeneous-Aware I/O: Multi-tiered, dynamic buffering for accelerated data access
• Modular Runtime System: Extensible architecture with dynamically loadable processing modules
• Advanced Data Structures: Shared memory compatible containers with GPU support (CUDA, ROCm)
• Distributed Computing: Seamless scaling from single node to cluster deployments

Architecture

IOWarp Core follows a layered architecture integrating five core components:

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      Applications                            │
│          (Scientific Workflows, HPC, Storage Systems)        │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
        ┌─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┐
        │                     │                     │
┌───────────────┐   ┌──────────────────┐   ┌────────────────┐
│   Context     │   │    Context       │   │   Context      │
│  Exploration  │   │  Assimilation    │   │   Transfer     │
│    Engine     │   │     Engine       │   │    Engine      │
└───────────────┘   └──────────────────┘   └────────────────┘
        │                     │                     │
        └─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┘
                              │
                    ┌─────────────────┐
                    │  Chimaera       │
                    │  Runtime        │
                    │  (ChiMod System)│
                    └─────────────────┘
                              │
                ┌─────────────────────────┐
                │  Context Transport      │
                │  Primitives             │
                │  (Shared Memory & IPC)  │
                └─────────────────────────┘

Components

IOWarp Core consists of five integrated components, each with its own specialized functionality:

1. Context Transport Primitives

Location: context-transport-primitives/

High-performance shared memory library containing data structures and synchronization primitives compatible with shared memory, CUDA, and ROCm.

Key Features:

• Shared memory compatible data structures (vector, list, unordered_map, queues)
• GPU-aware allocators (CUDA, ROCm)
• Thread synchronization primitives
• Networking layer with ZMQ transport
• Compression and encryption utilities

Read more →

2. Chimaera Runtime

Location: context-runtime/

High-performance modular runtime for scientific computing and storage systems with coroutine-based task execution.

Key Features:

• Ultra-high performance task execution (< 10μs latency)
• Modular ChiMod system for dynamic extensibility
• Coroutine-aware synchronization (CoMutex, CoRwLock)
• Distributed architecture with shared memory IPC
• Built-in storage backends (RAM, file-based, custom block devices)

Read more →

3. Context Transfer Engine

Location: context-transfer-engine/

Heterogeneous-aware, multi-tiered, dynamic I/O buffering system designed to accelerate I/O for HPC and data-intensive workloads.

Key Features:

• Programmable buffering across memory/storage tiers
• Multiple I/O pathway adapters
• Integration with HPC runtimes and workflows
• Improved throughput, latency, and predictability

Read more →

4. Context Assimilation Engine

Location: context-assimilation-engine/

High-performance data ingestion and processing engine for heterogeneous storage systems and scientific workflows.

Key Features:

• OMNI format for YAML-based job orchestration
• MPI-based parallel data processing
• Binary format handlers (Parquet, CSV, custom formats)
• Repository and storage backend abstraction
• Integrity verification with hash validation

Read more →

5. Context Exploration Engine

Location: context-exploration-engine/

Interactive tools and interfaces for exploring scientific data contents and metadata.

Key Features:

• Model Context Protocol (MCP) for HDF5 data
• HDF Compass viewer (wxPython-4 based)
• Interactive data exploration interfaces
• Metadata browsing capabilities

Read more →

Installation

Cloning the Repository

IOWarp Core uses git submodules for several dependencies. Always clone with --recurse-submodules:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/iowarp/clio-core.git
cd clio-core

If you already cloned without submodules, initialize them with:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Native

The following command will install conda, conda-build, and iowarp in a single script.

bash install.sh release

Release corresponds to a variant stored in installers/conda/variants. Feel free to add a new variant for your specific machine there.

Quickstart

Starting the Runtime

Before running our code, start the Chimaera runtime:

# Start with custom configuration
export CHI_SERVER_CONF=/workspace/docker/wrp_cte_bench/cte_config.yaml
chimaera runtime start

# Run in background
chimaera runtime start &

Environment Variables:

Variable	Description
CHI_SERVER_CONF	Primary path to Chimaera configuration file (checked first)
WRP_RUNTIME_CONF	Fallback configuration path (used if CHI_SERVER_CONF not set)

Chimaera Configuration

Configuration uses YAML format. Example configuration:

# Memory segment configuration
memory:
  main_segment_size: 1073741824           # 1GB main segment
  client_data_segment_size: 536870912     # 512MB client data
  runtime_data_segment_size: 536870912    # 512MB runtime data

# Network configuration
networking:
  port: 9413                              # ZeroMQ port
  neighborhood_size: 32                   # Max nodes for range queries

# Runtime configuration
runtime:
  sched_threads: 4                        # Scheduler worker threads
  slow_threads: 0                         # Slow worker threads (long tasks)
  stack_size: 65536                       # 64KB per task
  queue_depth: 10000                      # Maximum queue depth
  local_sched: "default"                  # Local task scheduler (default: "default")

# Compose section for declarative pool creation
compose:
  - mod_name: wrp_cte_core
    pool_name: wrp_cte
    pool_query: local
    pool_id: 512.0

    targets:
      neighborhood: 1
      default_target_timeout_ms: 30000

    storage:
      - path: "ram::cte_storage"          # RAM-based storage
        bdev_type: "ram"
        capacity_limit: "16GB"
        score: 1.0                        # Higher = faster tier (0.0-1.0)

    dpe:
      dpe_type: "max_bw"                  # Options: random, round_robin, max_bw

Context Exploration Engine Python Example

Here we show an example of how to use the context exploration engine to bundle and retrieve data.

import wrp_cee as cee

# Create ContextInterface (handles runtime initialization internally)
ctx_interface = cee.ContextInterface()

# Assimilate a file into IOWarp storage
ctx = cee.AssimilationCtx(
    src="file::/path/to/data.bin",      # Source: local file
    dst="iowarp::my_dataset",            # Destination: IOWarp tag
    format="binary"                      # Format: binary, hdf5, etc.
)
result = ctx_interface.context_bundle([ctx])
print(f"Assimilation result: {result}")

# Query for blobs matching a pattern
blobs = ctx_interface.context_query(
    "my_dataset",    # Tag name
    ".*",            # Blob name regex (match all)
    0                # Flags
)
print(f"Found blobs: {blobs}")

# Retrieve blob data
packed_data = ctx_interface.context_retrieve(
    "my_dataset",    # Tag name
    ".*",            # Blob name regex
    0                # Flags
)
print(f"Retrieved {len(packed_data)} bytes")

# Cleanup when done
ctx_interface.context_destroy(["my_dataset"])

Context Transfer Engine C++ Example

Here is an example of the context transfer engine's C++ API.

#include <wrp_cte/core/core_client.h>
#include <chimaera/chimaera.h>

int main() {
  // 1. Initialize Chimaera runtime
  bool success = chi::CHIMAERA_INIT(chi::ChimaeraMode::kClient, true);
  if (!success) return 1;

  // 2. Initialize CTE subsystem
  wrp_cte::core::WRP_CTE_CLIENT_INIT();

  // 3. Create CTE client
  wrp_cte::core::Client cte_client;
  wrp_cte::core::CreateParams params;
  cte_client.Create(chi::PoolQuery::Dynamic(),
                    wrp_cte::core::kCtePoolName,
                    wrp_cte::core::kCtePoolId, params);

  // 4. Register a storage target (100MB file-based)
  cte_client.RegisterTarget("/tmp/cte_storage",
                            chimaera::bdev::BdevType::kFile,
                            100 * 1024 * 1024);

  // 5. Create a tag (container for blobs)
  wrp_cte::core::TagId tag_id = cte_client.GetOrCreateTag(
      "my_tag", wrp_cte::core::TagId::GetNull());

  // 6. Store blob data
  std::vector<char> data(4096, 'A');
  hipc::FullPtr<char> shared_data = CHI_IPC->AllocateBuffer(data.size());
  memcpy(shared_data.ptr_, data.data(), data.size());

  cte_client.PutBlob(tag_id, "my_blob",
                     0,                    // offset
                     data.size(),          // size
                     shared_data.shm_,     // shared memory pointer
                     0.8f,                 // importance score
                     0);                   // flags
  CHI_IPC->FreeBuffer(shared_data);

  // 7. Retrieve blob data
  hipc::FullPtr<char> read_buf = CHI_IPC->AllocateBuffer(data.size());
  cte_client.GetBlob(tag_id, "my_blob",
                     0,                    // offset
                     data.size(),          // size
                     0,                    // flags
                     read_buf.shm_);
  // read_buf.ptr_ now contains the retrieved data
  CHI_IPC->FreeBuffer(read_buf);

  // 8. Cleanup
  cte_client.DelTag(tag_id);
  return 0;
}

Build and Link:

# Unified package includes everything - HermesShm, Chimaera, and all ChiMods
find_package(iowarp-core REQUIRED)

target_link_libraries(my_app
  wrp_cte::core_client    # CTE client (for the example above)
  chimaera::admin_client  # Admin ChiMod (always available)
  chimaera::bdev_client   # Block device ChiMod (always available)
)

What find_package(iowarp-core) provides:

Core Components:

• All hshm::* modular targets (cxx, configure, serialize, interceptor, lightbeam, thread_all, mpi, compress, encrypt)
• chimaera::cxx (core runtime library)
• ChiMod build utilities

Core ChiMods (Always Available):

• chimaera::admin_client, chimaera::admin_runtime
• chimaera::bdev_client, chimaera::bdev_runtime

Optional ChiMods (if enabled at build time):

• wrp_cte::core_client, wrp_cte::core_runtime (Context Transfer Engine)
• wrp_cae::core_client, wrp_cae::core_runtime (Context Assimilation Engine)

Testing

IOWarp Core includes comprehensive test suites for each component:

# Run all unit tests
cd build
ctest -VV

# Run specific component tests
ctest -R context_transport  # Transport primitives tests
ctest -R chimaera           # Runtime tests
ctest -R cte                # Context transfer engine tests
ctest -R omni               # Context assimilation engine tests

Benchmarking

IOWarp Core includes performance benchmarks for measuring runtime and I/O throughput.

Runtime Throughput Benchmark (wrp_run_thrpt_benchmark)

Measures task throughput and latency for the Chimaera runtime.

wrp_run_thrpt_benchmark [options]

Parameters:

Parameter	Default	Description
--test-case <case>	bdev_io	Test case to run
--threads <N>	4	Number of client worker threads
--duration <seconds>	10.0	Duration to run benchmark
--max-file-size <size>	1g	Maximum file size (supports k, m, g suffixes)
--io-size <size>	4k	I/O size per operation
--lane-policy <P>	(from config)	Lane policy: map_by_pid_tid, round_robin, random
--output-dir <dir>	/tmp/wrp_benchmark	Output directory for files
--verbose, -v	false	Enable verbose output

Test Cases:

• bdev_io - Full I/O throughput (Allocate → Write → Free)
• bdev_allocation - Allocation-only throughput
• bdev_task_alloc - Task allocation/deletion overhead
• latency - Round-trip task latency

Examples:

# Full I/O benchmark with 8 threads for 30 seconds
wrp_run_thrpt_benchmark --test-case bdev_io --threads 8 --duration 30

# Latency benchmark with verbose output
wrp_run_thrpt_benchmark --test-case latency --threads 4 --verbose

# Large I/O with 1MB blocks
wrp_run_thrpt_benchmark --test-case bdev_io --io-size 1m --threads 16

CTE Benchmark (wrp_cte_bench)

Measures Context Transfer Engine Put/Get performance.

wrp_cte_bench <test_case> <num_threads> <depth> <io_size> <io_count>

Parameters:

Parameter	Position	Description
test_case	1	Put, Get, or PutGet
num_threads	2	Number of worker threads
depth	3	Number of async requests per thread
io_size	4	Size per operation (supports k, m, g suffixes)
io_count	5	Number of operations per thread

Examples:

# Put benchmark: 4 threads, 8 async depth, 1MB I/O, 200 operations each
wrp_cte_bench Put 4 8 1m 200

# Get benchmark: 2 threads, 4 async depth, 4KB I/O, 1000 operations each
wrp_cte_bench Get 2 4 4k 1000

# Combined Put/Get: 8 threads, 16 async depth, 16MB I/O, 50 operations each
wrp_cte_bench PutGet 8 16 16m 50

Output Metrics:

• Total execution time (ms)
• Per-thread bandwidth: min, max, avg (MB/s)
• Aggregate bandwidth across all threads

Documentation

Comprehensive documentation is available for each component:

• CLAUDE.md: Unified development guide and coding standards
• Context Transport Primitives: Shared memory data structures
• Chimaera Runtime: Modular runtime system and ChiMod development
  • MODULE_DEVELOPMENT_GUIDE.md: Complete ChiMod development guide
• Context Transfer Engine: I/O buffering and acceleration
  • CTE API Documentation: Complete API reference
• Context Assimilation Engine: Data ingestion and processing
• Context Exploration Engine: Interactive data exploration

Use Cases

Scientific Computing:

• High-performance data processing pipelines
• Near-data computing for large datasets
• Custom storage engine development
• Computational workflows with context management

Storage Systems:

• Distributed file system backends
• Object storage implementations
• Multi-tiered cache and storage solutions
• High-throughput I/O buffering

HPC and Data-Intensive Workloads:

• Accelerated I/O for scientific applications
• Data ingestion and transformation pipelines
• Heterogeneous computing with GPU support
• Real-time streaming analytics

Performance Characteristics

IOWarp Core is designed for high-performance computing scenarios:

• Task Latency: < 10 microseconds for local task execution (Chimaera Runtime)
• Memory Bandwidth: Up to 50 GB/s with RAM-based storage backends
• Scalability: Single node to multi-node cluster deployments
• Concurrency: Thousands of concurrent coroutine-based tasks
• I/O Performance: Native async I/O with multi-tiered buffering

Contributing

We welcome contributions to the IOWarp Core project!

Development Workflow

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
3. Follow the coding standards in CLAUDE.md
4. Test your changes: ctest --test-dir build
5. Submit a pull request

Coding Standards

• Follow Google C++ Style Guide
• Use semantic naming for IDs and priorities
• Always create docstrings for new functions (Doxygen compatible)
• Add comprehensive unit tests for new functionality
• Never use mock/stub code unless explicitly required - implement real, working code

See AGENTS.md for complete coding standards and workflow guidelines.

License

IOWarp Core is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License. See LICENSE file for complete license text.

Copyright (c) 2024, Gnosis Research Center, Illinois Institute of Technology

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Acknowledgements

IOWarp Core is developed at the GRC lab at Illinois Institute of Technology as part of the IOWarp project. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and aims to advance next-generation scientific computing infrastructure.

For more information:

• IOWarp Project: https://grc.iit.edu/research/projects/iowarp
• IOWarp Organization: https://github.com/iowarp
• Documentation Hub: https://grc.iit.edu/docs/category/iowarp

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