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| From | Neil Shephard <nshephard@gmail.com> |
| To | statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu |
| Subject | Re: st: RE: Will Stata/MP speed up running multiple dofiles in batch mode? |
| Date | Thu, 20 Jan 2011 09:41:29 +0000 |
On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 12:32 AM, Alex Eapen <alex.eapen@sydney.edu.au> wrote: > I would appreciate some advice on whether Stata/MP will be helpful in the following situation: > > I currently have Stata/SE 10.1 for Mac. I would like to run several do-files at once (rather than sequentially). I see that this can be done by running Stata in batch mode from, say, the Terminal application in Mac OS (see http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/unix/batch.html). That is, at the prompt in the Terminal application in a Mac OS, I type: > > statase -b do bigjob1.do & > > followed by.... > statase -b do bigjob2.do & > > and then... > statase -b do bigjob3.do & > > And all three dofiles run simultaneously. > 1. My first question is whether there is a limit on how many do files can be run simultaneously in this manner? They run simultaneously, but they are actually separate processes. Unless there is a licensing issue with regards to how many instances of Stata you can have running simultaneously on one computer you can start as many batch jobs as you want. > 2. I compared the time it takes to execute a single dofile alone to when it is run simultaneously with the other two. (I ensured all three dofiles contain exactly the same code, so any difference in time-to-run is not because of different commands in them). When the three dofiles are running simultaneously, possibly because stata resources on my computer are being stretched across three dofiles, each one takes longer to complete. Will Stata/MP help in this situation? Will Stata/MP distribute the execution of dofiles (or parts of them) across multiple cores and thus reduce the time it takes for each to complete? Thats because you have three processes vying for your computers RAM and CPU resources. If you have Stata/MP then _one_ instance of Stata will be able to use multiple cores in your computer. If you used Stata/MP and did exactly what you have above, you would stil have three separate processes vying for the RAM and CPU resources, so unless each do-file will run faster under Stata/MP you won't see any improvement. An overview of Stata/MP performance improvements can be found at http://www.stata.com/statamp/report.pdf You will also need to ensure that you have a 64-bit Intel Mac (see http://www.stata.com/products/whichstata.html). Neil -- “Truth in science can be defined as the working hypothesis best suited to open the way to the next better one.” - Konrad Lorenz Email - nshephard@gmail.com Website - http://kimura.no-ip.org/ Photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/slackline/ * * For searches and help try: * http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search * http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq * http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/