Efficiently Reproducing Distributed Workflows in Notebook-based Systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Azaz, Talha, Ahmad, Raza, Islam, Md Saiful, Thain, Douglas, Malik, Tanu
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Azaz, Talha
Ahmad, Raza
Islam, Md Saiful
Thain, Douglas
Malik, Tanu
author_facet Azaz, Talha
Ahmad, Raza
Islam, Md Saiful
Thain, Douglas
Malik, Tanu
contents Notebooks provide an author-friendly environment for iterative development, modular execution, and easy sharing. Distributed workflows are increasingly being authored and executed in notebooks, yet sharing and reproducing them remains challenging. Even small code or parameter changes often force full end-to-end re-execution of the distributed workflow, limiting iterative development for such workloads. Current methods for improving notebook execution operate on single-node workflows, while optimization techniques for distributed workflows typically sacrifice reproducibility. We introduce NBRewind, a notebook kernel system for efficient, reproducible execution of distributed workflows in notebooks. NBRewind consists of two kernels--audit and repeat. The audit kernel performs incremental, cell-level checkpointing to avoid unnecessary re-runs; repeat reconstructs checkpoints and enables partial re-execution including notebook cells that manage distributed workflow. Both kernel methods are based on data-flow analysis across cells. We show how checkpoints and logs when packaged as part of standardized notebook specification improve sharing and reproducibility. Using real-world case studies we show that creating incremental checkpoints adds minimal overhead and enables portable, cross-site reproducibility of notebook-based distributed workflows on HPC systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_26965
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Efficiently Reproducing Distributed Workflows in Notebook-based Systems
Azaz, Talha
Ahmad, Raza
Islam, Md Saiful
Thain, Douglas
Malik, Tanu
Software Engineering
Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
Notebooks provide an author-friendly environment for iterative development, modular execution, and easy sharing. Distributed workflows are increasingly being authored and executed in notebooks, yet sharing and reproducing them remains challenging. Even small code or parameter changes often force full end-to-end re-execution of the distributed workflow, limiting iterative development for such workloads. Current methods for improving notebook execution operate on single-node workflows, while optimization techniques for distributed workflows typically sacrifice reproducibility. We introduce NBRewind, a notebook kernel system for efficient, reproducible execution of distributed workflows in notebooks. NBRewind consists of two kernels--audit and repeat. The audit kernel performs incremental, cell-level checkpointing to avoid unnecessary re-runs; repeat reconstructs checkpoints and enables partial re-execution including notebook cells that manage distributed workflow. Both kernel methods are based on data-flow analysis across cells. We show how checkpoints and logs when packaged as part of standardized notebook specification improve sharing and reproducibility. Using real-world case studies we show that creating incremental checkpoints adds minimal overhead and enables portable, cross-site reproducibility of notebook-based distributed workflows on HPC systems.
title Efficiently Reproducing Distributed Workflows in Notebook-based Systems
topic Software Engineering
Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26965