A Linear Combination-Based Method to Construct Proxy Benchmarks for Big Data Workloads

Yikang Yang, Lei Wang, Jianfeng Zhan

Abstract: During the early stages of CPU design, benchmarks can only run on simulators to evaluate CPU performance. However, most big data component benchmarks are unable to finish running on simulators at an acceptable time cost, as simulators are slower 100X–1000X times than physical platform. Moreover, big data benchmarks usually need the support of complex software stacks, which is hard to be ported on the simulators. Proxy benchmarks have the same micro-architectural characteristics as real benchmarks and do not require long running time or complex software stacks. Therefore, proxy benchmarks can replace real benchmarks to run on simulators.