MBrace is a programming model and cluster infrastructure for effectively defining and executing large scale computation in the cloud. Based on the .NET framework, it builds upon and extends F# asynchronous workflows. https://skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/5157-mbrace-large-scale-distributed-computation-with-f

1. Cloud Computing with F#

2.  Athens based ISV company
 Specialize in the .NET framework and C#/F#
 Various business fields
◦ Business process management
◦ GIS
◦ Application framework development
 R&D Development
◦ OR Mappers
◦ MBrace and related frameworks
◦ Open Source development
About Nessos IT

3. What is MBrace?
 A Programming Model.
◦ Leverages the power of the F# language.
◦ Inspired by F#’s asynchronous workflows.
◦ Declarative, compositional, higher-order.
 A Cluster Infrastructure.
◦ Based on the .NET framework.
◦ Elastic, fault tolerant, multitasking.

4. HelloWorld
The MBrace Programming Model
val hello : Cloud<unit>
let hello = cloud {
printfn "hello, world!"
return ()
}
MBrace.CreateProcess <@ hello @>

5. Sequential Composition
The MBrace Programming Model
let first = cloud { return 15 }
let second = cloud { return 27 }
cloud {
let! x = first
let! y = second
return x + y
}

6. Example : Sequential fold
The MBrace Programming Model
val foldl :
('S -> 'T -> Cloud<'S>) ->
'S -> 'T list -> Cloud<'S>
let rec foldl f s ts = cloud {
match ts with
| [] -> return s
| t :: ts' ->
let! s' = f s t
return! foldl f s' ts'
}

7. ParallelComposition
The MBrace Programming Model
val (<||>) : Cloud<'T> -> Cloud<'S> -> Cloud<'S * 'T>
cloud {
let first = cloud { return 15 }
let second = cloud { return 27 }
let! x,y = first <||> second
return x + y
}

8. ParallelComposition (Variadic)
The MBrace Programming Model
val Cloud.Parallel : Cloud<'T> [] -> Cloud<'T []>
cloud {
let sqr x = cloud { return x * x }
let jobs = Array.map sqr [|1 .. 100|]
let! sqrs = Cloud.Parallel jobs
return Array.sum sqrs
}

9. Non-Deterministic Parallelism
The MBrace Programming Model
val Cloud.Choice : Cloud<'T option> [] -> Cloud<'T option>
let tryPick (f : 'T -> Cloud<'S option>) (ts : 'T []) =
cloud {
let jobs = Array.map f ts
return! Cloud.Choice jobs
}

10. Exception handling
The MBrace Programming Model
let first = cloud { return 17 }
let second = cloud { return 25 / 0 }
cloud {
try
let! x,y = first <||> second
return x + y
with :? DivideByZeroException ->
return -1
}

11. Example: Map-Reduce
The MBrace Programming Model
let mapReduce (mapF : 'T -> ICloud<'S>)
(reduceF : 'S -> 'S -> ICloud<'S>)
(identity : 'S) (inputs : 'T list) =
let rec aux inputs = cloud {
match inputs with
| [] -> return identity
| [t] -> return! mapF t
| _ ->
let left,right = List.split inputs
let! s1, s2 = aux left <||> aux right
return! reduceF s1 s2
}
aux inputs

12. Demo 1

13. About that MapReduce workflow…

14. About that MapReduce workflow…
 Communication Overhead.
◦ Data captured in cloud workflow closures.
◦ Needlessly passed between worker machines.
 Granularity issues.
◦ Each input entails a scheduling decision by the cluster.
◦ Cluster size not taken into consideration.
◦ Multicore capacity of worker nodes ignored.

15. The Cloud Ref
Distributed Data in MBrace
let createRef (data : string list) = cloud {
let! cref = CloudRef.New data
return cref : CloudRef<string list>
}
let deRef (cref : CloudRef<string list>) = cloud {
return cref.Value
}

16. The Cloud Ref
Distributed Data in MBrace
 Simplest data primitive in MBrace.
 References a value stored in the cluster.
 Conceptually similar to ML ref types.
 Immutable by design.
 Values cached in worker nodes for performance.

17. Disposable types
Distributed Data in MBrace
cloud {
use! data = CloudRef.New [| 1 .. 1000000 |]
let! x,y = doSomething data <||> doSomethingElse data
return x + y
}

18. Demo 2

19. Performance
 We tested MBrace against Hadoop.
 Tests were staged onWindows Azure.
 Clusters of 4, 8, 16 and 32 Large Azure instances.
 Two algorithms were tested, grep and k-means.
 Source code available on github.

20. Distributed grep
Performance
 Find occurrences of given pattern in text files.
 Straightforward Map-Reduce algorithm.
 Input data was 32, 64, 128 and 256 GB of text.

21. Distributed grep
Performance
 Find occurrences of given pattern in text files.
 Straightforward Map-Reduce algorithm.
 Input data was 32, 64, 128 and 256 GB of text.

22. Distributed grep
Performance

23. K-means
Performance
 Centroid computation out of a set of vectors.
 Iterative algorithm.
 Not naturally describable in Map-Reduce workflows.
 Hadoop implementation using Apache Mahout.
 Input was 106
, randomly generated 100-dimensional
points.

24. K-means
Performance

25. Future
 Better C# support.
◦ LinqOptimizer, LinqOptimizer.GPU andCloudLINQ.
◦ Support for the upcoming C# interactive.
 Open Source.
◦ FsPickler,Thespian, CloudLINQ, etc.
components of MBrace already published.
 Mono/Linux support.

26. http://github.com/nessos
Find more at
http://www.m-brace.net