Due to its integration with future
you can run massive computing tasks using a Google Compute Engine cluster with just a few lines of code.
Some more examples of using future can be found here, using fractals as an example.
On other platforms, see also an Azure example here on Revolution Analytics.
library(googleComputeEngineR)
library(future)
## auto auth to GCE via environment file arguments
## create 50 CPUs names
vm_names <- paste0("cpu",1:50)
## specify the cheapest VMs that may get turned off
preemptible = list(preemptible = TRUE)
## start up 50 VMs with R base on them (can also customise via Dockerfiles using gce_vm_template instead)
fiftyvms <- lapply(vm_names, gce_vm, predefined_type = "n1-standard-1", template = "r-base", scheduling = preemptible)
## add any ssh details, username etc.
fiftyvms <- lapply(fiftyvms, gce_ssh_setup)
## once all launched, add to cluster
plan(cluster, workers = as.cluster(fiftyvms))
## the action you want to perform via cluster
my_single_function <- function(x){
an_expensive_function(x)
}
## use future::future_lapply to send each call to the cluster
all_results <- future_lapply(1:50, my_single_function)
## tidy up
lapply(fiftyvms, FUN = gce_vm_stop)
Preemptible VMs are a lot cheaper (80%) than normal instances, but Google reserves the right to stop them at any time. They are intended to be used in non-critical jobs where if they shutdown you can account for it and launch another.
To create them, you need to pass preemptible = list(preemptible = TRUE)
to the scheduling
argument of the gce_vm()
creation family of functions.
Using Dockerfiles
and gce_vm_template
or gce_vm_container
you can customise the VMs launched. This can include shutdown scripts that fire if Google shuts down your preemptible instance early, allowing you to save results so far to Cloud storage or similar.
Since they are also running on Google Compute, you can authenticate with other cloud services such as BigQuery or Cloud Storage simply by using the googleAuthR::gar_gce_auth()
function, which reuses the authentication that launched the VM.
You can launch as many VMs as you have quota for in your account. These vary from region, from ~240 to 720. You can apply for more quota if you need it.