Customize run environment in Polyaxon

This configuration is only available for Polyaxon deployed on Kubernetes clusters.

Usually a docker image specifies the functionality and environment that you wish to use for running your experiments.

The following sections will describe how to use existing docker images and how to create custom images.

Public images

You can use any docker image available on a public registry to run your experiments.

You can also build your custom docker images and push them to a public registry and use them on Polyaxon.

Custom images

Alternatively, you can use the polyaxonfile to define how to customize a public image to your need, and Polyaxon will take care of building the image before running your code.

For example

version: 1

kind: experiment

params:
  batch_size: 128
  lr: 0.1

build:
  image: tensorflow/tensorflow:1.4.1-py3
  build_steps:
    - pip install scikit-learn

run:
  cmd: python3 train.py --batch_size={{ batch_size }} --lr={{ lr }}

Environment variables

To expose some environment variables you can use env_vars

For example

---
version: 1

kind: experiment

params:
  batch_size: 128
  lr: 0.1

build:
  image: tensorflow/tensorflow:1.4.1-py3
  build_steps:
    - pip install scikit-learn
  env_vars:
    - ['MY_ENV_VAR_KEY1', 'MY_ENV_VAR_VALUE1']
    - ['MY_ENV_VAR_KEY2', 'MY_ENV_VAR_VALUE2']

run:
  cmd: python3 train.py --batch_size={{ batch_size }} --lr={{ lr }}

Lang environment

In some cases users will often want to expose some language environment, e.g.

ENV LC_ALL C.UTF-8
ENV LANG C.UTF-8
ENV LANGUAGE C.UTF-8

Although it's possible to do that use the env_vars section:

  env_vars:
    - ['LC_ALL', 'C.UTF-8']
    - ['LANG', 'C.UTF-8']
    - ['LANGUAGE', 'C.UTF-8']

Polyaxon has section to make that easier:

build:
  ...
  lang_env: 'C.UTF-8'

If you wish to use this config lang_env definition for all your builds without the need to set it on every Polyaxonfile, you can use the setting page to set a default value for all builds.

Installing libraries with pip

Polyaxon also provides, an easy way to install multiple python libraries:

you can define a requirements file; the name must be either requirements.txt or polyaxon_requirements.txt

```bash
$ vi polyaxon_requirements.txt
...
```

a command pip install -r polyaxon_requirements.txt to install the requirements

```yaml
---
version: 1

kind: experiment

params:
  batch_size: 128
  lr: 0.1

build:
  image: tensorflow/tensorflow:1.4.1-py3
  build_steps:
    - pip install -r polyaxon_requirements.txt

run:
  cmd: python3 train.py --batch_size={{ batch_size }} --lr={{ lr }}
```

Installing libraries with conda

You can also set a conda environment:

you can define a conda_env.yaml, conda_env.yml, polyaxon_conda_env.yaml, polyaxon_conda_env.yml, similar to the requirements section

```bash
$ vi conda_env.yaml
...
```

a command conda ... to install the requirements

```yaml
---
version: 1

kind: experiment

params:
  batch_size: 128
  lr: 0.1

build:
  image: tensorflow/tensorflow:1.4.1-py3
  build_steps:
    - conda env update -n base -f conda_env.yaml

run:
  cmd: python3 train.py --batch_size={{ batch_size }} --lr={{ lr }}
```

Installing other libraries or running other commands

You can also install or execute other commands, by adding them to the build_steps part. If you have multiple commands that you wish to execute, You can create an executable file, the filename must be polyaxon_setup.sh or setup.sh, and a command to execute that file ./polyaxon_setup.sh.

version: 1

kind: experiment

params:
  batch_size: 128
  lr: 0.1

build:
  image: tensorflow/tensorflow:1.4.1-py3
  build_steps:
    - ./polyaxon_setup.sh

run:
  cmd: python3 train.py --batch_size={{ batch_size }} --lr={{ lr }}

Using dockerfile instead of the build section details

In many cases, defining all steps needed to create an image might require information that polyaxonfile' specification does not provide, in that case we ask users to define their own Dockerfile(s) and use them to create containers for jobs and experiments:

version: 1

kind: experiment

build:
  dockerfile: path/to/Dockerfile

The Dockerfile must be part of the project repo.

Defining build context

Assuming your project has the following structure:

/mnist
    |_ dockerfiles
        |_ DockerfileJob
        |_ DockerfileExperiment
    |_ module1
        |_ main.py
        |_ preprocess.py
        |_ exec.sh
    |_ modeule2
        |_ main.py
        |_ model.py

You might want to mount mudule1 to a job to do some preprocessing, and module2 to an experiment to train a model:

Job:

version: 1

kind: job

build:
  dockerfile: dockerfiles/DockerfileJob
  context: module1

run:
  cmd: exec.sh

Experiment1:

version: 1

kind: experiment

build:
  dockerfile: path/to/DockerfileExperiment
  context: module2

run:
  cmd: python3 main.py --arg1=foo --arg2=bar

Experiment2:

version: 1

kind: experiment

build:
  image: tensorflow/tensorflow:1.4.1-py3
  build_steps:
    - pip install -r polyaxon_requirements.txt
  context: module2
  backend: kaniko

run:
  cmd: python3 main.py --arg1=foo --arg2=bar

Disabling the cache during the build process

Often times users might need to force rebuilding an image or just discard the cache, this is possible by adding nocache to the build section:

---
version: 1

kind: experiment

params:
  batch_size: 128
  lr: 0.1

build:
  image: tensorflow/tensorflow:1.4.1-py3
  build_steps:
    - ./polyaxon_setup.sh
  nocache: true

Invalidating a build

Often time a user might need to trigger a build with same config without the need to set nocache property, Polyaxon provides a way to invalidate a build by id or all builds under a project, using the CLI:

For a single build

polyaxon build -b 123 invalidate

For all builds under a projects

polyaxon project invalidate_builds

Changing the build backend

Polyaxon supports multiple build backends, by default Polyaxon uses a built-in native builder, however you can change the build process either per job/experiment, or change set the default backend to use for all builds. Please check the currently supported build backends.

Running multiple commands as a string

The cmd subsection accept either a string (1 command) or or list of strings (multiple commands)

This is all valid commands that Polyaxon will execute:

...

run:
  cmd: cmd1 && cmd2 && cmd3

...

run:
  cmd: cmd1 && cmd2 || cmd3

---
...

run:
  cmd: cmd1 && cmd2; cmd3 || cmd4

Running multiple commands as a list of strings

The cmd subsection accept either a string (1 command) or or list of strings (multiple commands)

This is all valid commands that Polyaxon will execute:

...

run:
  cmd: 
    - cmd1
    - cmd2
    - cmd3

The resulting command passed to kubernetes will be a single command joined with &&: cmd1 && cmd2 && cmd3

Running a script

In some cases you will need to execute a complex command, or multiple commands that could best run from an executable file, e.g. run.sh where you will put all the commands you wish to execute, and then just run that file:

For example the run.sh could be:

cd to_some_path; echo "running my run.sh file"; python model.py

And your cmd in polyaxonfile:

run:
  cmd: /bin/bash run.sh

Custom configmaps and secrets

In some cases, users might need to authenticate to a third party service that the platform does not have an integration for yet, Polyaxon provides a way to mount custom config maps and secrets for your runs.

To be able to mount a config map or secret in your jobs/builds/experiments/notebooks, you need to create the config map/secret in the namespace of your Polyaxon deployment and add it to you config map and / or secret catalogs in the UI:

N.B.1 You can also define the same config map/secret several times by exposing only some of it's items. N.B.2 If no items are defined in the form, Polyaxon will expose all items of the reference.

During the scheduling of your build/job/experiment/notebook, you can reference the config map(s)/secret(s) that you want to mount in the environment section:

environment:
  ...
  secret_refs: ['secret1', 'secret2']
  configmap_refs: ['configmap1', 'configmap3']

Within your build/job/experiment/notebook the individual items of your secrets are then exposed as environment variables. As an example, requiring a secret with the following data section

data:
  test_user: <base64>
  test_password: <base64>

would expose test_user and test_password environment values containing the decoded values.

Env vars

Polyaxon now allows to set env vars to be used when scheduling runs, this allows users to expose some environment variables on every run without defining a config map or setting those environment variables on the docker image.

In order to set the default environment variables, you can update the ENV_VARS in the setting page for every primitive.

Custom resources

You can set a default resources definition to apply all experiments/jobs/builds/tensorboards/notebooks using the settings page.

Additionally any Polyaxon user can can customize the container's resources, by providing a resources subsection to the environment's section:

environment:
  resources:
    cpu:
      requests: 1
      limits: 2
    memory:
      requests: 256
      limits: 1024

Using GPUs

To use GPUs you can use the same subsection to request GPUs

environment:
  resources:
    cpu:
      requests: 1
      limits: 2
    memory:
      requests: 256
      limits: 1024
    gpu:
      requests: 1
      limits: 1

Using TPUs

To use TPUs, you need to deploy Polyaxon on GKE, and have a tensorflow version compatible with TPU:

environment:
  resources:
    cpu:
      requests: 1
      limits: 2
    memory:
      requests: 256
      limits: 1024
    tpu:
      requests: 8
      limits: 8

Update default hardware accelerators configuration

Polyaxon uses cloud-tpus.google.com/v2 as a default resource key and 1.12 as default Tensorflow TPU version, but you can change this values using the setting page in the dashboard, e.g.:

To use Tensorflow 1.11 version for example, set:

K8S:TPUTFVERSION

1.11

To use preemptible TPU, set:

K8S:TPURESOURCEKEY

cloud-tpus.google.com/preemptible-v2

Max restarts

Polyaxon allows to set a number of times a pod should be restarted in case of failure, before marking the run as failed.

It's possible to set a global default value for all experiments/jobs/builds/notebooks/tensorboards under the settings page, in the scheduling section.

Additionally users can override the default value per run, e.g.

environment:
  max_restarts: 3

Configuration Customize Run Environment

Customize Run Environment

Public images

Custom images

Environment variables

Lang environment

Installing libraries with pip

Installing libraries with conda

Installing other libraries or running other commands

Using dockerfile instead of the build section details

Defining build context

Disabling the cache during the build process

Invalidating a build

Changing the build backend

Running multiple commands as a string

Running multiple commands as a list of strings

Running a script

Custom configmaps and secrets

Env vars

Custom resources

Using GPUs

Using TPUs

Update default hardware accelerators configuration

Max restarts

Configuration

Configuration

Version

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ConfigurationCustomize Run Environment

Customize Run Environment

Public images

Custom images

Environment variables

Lang environment

Installing libraries with pip

Installing libraries with conda

Installing other libraries or running other commands

Using dockerfile instead of the build section details

Defining build context

Disabling the cache during the build process

Invalidating a build

Changing the build backend

Running multiple commands as a string

Running multiple commands as a list of strings

Running a script

Custom configmaps and secrets

Env vars

Custom resources

Using GPUs

Using TPUs

Update default hardware accelerators configuration

Max restarts

Configuration

Configuration

Version

Improve this page!

Have a feedback?

Configuration Customize Run Environment