What do this time mean ?

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VASP001
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What do this time mean ?

#1 Post by VASP001 » Sun Dec 27, 2009 1:28 am

Total CPU time used User time System time Elapsed time
And which factors determine those time ?For example ,the communication between the nodes ,and the nodes used in the computation .
Last edited by VASP001 on Sun Dec 27, 2009 1:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

pkroll
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What do this time mean ?

#2 Post by pkroll » Sun Dec 27, 2009 4:28 am

Grossly speaking: User + System == CPU (approx., and most often).
Elapsed == Wall clock time since the program started.
System = usually small – it's what the system does with your job besides executing commands [swapping, paging (?!)]
User = that's what counts. Herein is everything of your job included. That means, all executions, all communications, all waits for synchronization of procs in multi-CPU jobs, etc.

You will need to check timing.c in vasp.4.lib or vasp.5.lib. It calls two system routines: getrusage [see <sys/resource.h>] and gettimeofday [see <sys/time.h>].
If you study the structures of these functions – and consider their implementation in your system [OS, MPI] – it will give you some detailed insight.

If you want more detailed information about your job (e.g., timing how much is spend for communication), you need to attach/use some performance analyzer.
Last edited by pkroll on Sun Dec 27, 2009 4:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

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