add additional validation checks in elastic config (#646)

deepspeed/elasticity/config.py

@@ -63,9 +63,39 @@ class ElasticityConfig:
                 MAX_ACCEPTABLE_BATCH_SIZE,
                 MAX_ACCEPTABLE_BATCH_SIZE_DEFAULT)
             self.micro_batches = param_dict.get(MICRO_BATCHES, MICRO_BATCHES_DEFAULT)
+
+        if not isinstance(self.micro_batches, list):
+            raise ElasticityConfigError(
+                f"Elasticity expected value of {MICRO_BATCHES} to be a "
+                f"list of micro batches, instead is: {type(self.micro_batches)}, containing: {self.micro_batches}"
+            )
+
+        if not all(map(lambda m: isinstance(m, int), self.micro_batches)):
+            raise ElasticityConfigError(
+                f"Elasticity expected {MICRO_BATCHES} to only contain a list of integers, "
+                f"instead contains: f{self.micro_batches}")
+
+        if not all(map(lambda m: m > 0, self.micro_batches)):
+            raise ElasticityConfigError(
+                f"Elasticity expected {MICRO_BATCHES} to only contain positive integers, "
+                f"instead contains: f{self.micro_batches}")
+
         self.min_gpus = param_dict.get(MIN_GPUS, MIN_GPUS_DEFAULT)
         self.max_gpus = param_dict.get(MAX_GPUS, MAX_GPUS_DEFAULT)
+        if self.min_gpus < 1 or self.max_gpus < 1:
+            raise ElasticityConfigError(
+                "Elasticity min/max gpus must be > 0, "
+                f"given min_gpus: {self.min_gpus}, max_gpus: {self.max_gpus}")
+        if self.max_gpus < self.min_gpus:
+            raise ElasticityConfigError(
+                "Elasticity min_gpus cannot be greater than max_gpus, "
+                f"given min_gpus: {self.min_gpus}, max_gpus: {self.max_gpus}")
+
         self.min_time = param_dict.get(MIN_TIME, MIN_TIME_DEFAULT)
+        if self.min_time < 0:
+            raise ElasticityConfigError(
+                f"Elasticity min time needs to be >= 0: given {self.min_time}")
+
         self.version = param_dict.get(VERSION, VERSION_DEFAULT)
         self.prefer_larger_batch_size = param_dict.get(PREFER_LARGER_BATCH,
                                                        PREFER_LARGER_BATCH_DEFAULT)

deepspeed/elasticity/constants.py

@@ -46,9 +46,9 @@ MIN_GPUS_DEFAULT = 1
 MAX_GPUS = 'max_gpus'
 MAX_GPUS_DEFAULT = 10000
 
-# Minimum running time (minutes) before the scheduler will scale us
+# Minimum running time (minutes) before the scheduler will scale us, 0 implies it's unknown
 MIN_TIME = "min_time"
-MIN_TIME_DEFAULT = "20"
+MIN_TIME_DEFAULT = 0
 
 # When finding a suitable batch size, attempt to find one that is closest
 # to the max train batch size given.

tests/unit/test_elastic.py

@@ -107,6 +107,35 @@ def test_empty_config():
                                                     target_deepspeed_version=ds_version)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('key, value',
+                         [('micro_batch_sizes',
+                           [1,
+                            4,
+                            -1,
+                            2,
+                            -10]),
+                          ('min_gpus',
+                           -1),
+                          ('max_gpus',
+                           -1),
+                          ('micro_batch_sizes',
+                           5),
+                          ('micro_batch_sizes',
+                           ['a',
+                            None,
+                            0.5]),
+                          ('micro_batch_sizes',
+                           [2,
+                            0.5,
+                            4])])
+def test_invalid_config_values(key, value):
+    ds_config = base_ds_config.copy()
+    ds_config['elasticity'][key] = value
+    with pytest.raises(deepspeed.elasticity.config.ElasticityError):
+        deepspeed.elasticity.compute_elastic_config(ds_config=ds_config,
+                                                    target_deepspeed_version=ds_version)
+
+
 def test_proper_mbsz():
     ds_config = base_ds_config.copy()
     ds_config["elasticity"]["max_train_batch_size"] = 32