---
id: wiki-2026-0508-pipeline-parallelism
title: Pipeline Parallelism
category: 10_Wiki/Topics
status: verified
canonical_id: self
aliases: [PP, GPipe, 1F1B]
duplicate_of: none
source_trust_level: A
confidence_score: 0.9
verification_status: applied
tags: [parallelism, distributed-training, deep-learning, llm]
raw_sources: []
last_reinforced: 2026-05-10
github_commit: pending
tech_stack:
  language: python
  framework: pytorch
---

# Pipeline Parallelism

## 매 한 줄
> **"매 모델을 layer-wise로 잘라 GPU pipeline 위로 micro-batch가 흐르게 한다"**. 매 GPipe(2018)에서 시작, PipeDream / 1F1B / Interleaved 1F1B로 진화. 매 2026 LLM 학습(>100B params)에서 TP+PP+DP 조합의 한 축.

## 매 핵심

### 매 왜 PP인가
- 매 단일 GPU 의 memory(HBM3 80–192GB) 의 초과 → layer 분할 필수.
- 매 Tensor Parallelism 의 NVLink 안 high-bandwidth requirement → 매 node 간 한계.
- 매 Pipeline Parallelism 의 stage 간 activation 만 전달 → 매 inter-node OK.

### 매 stage / micro-batch
- Stage = 매 연속 layer 묶음, GPU 1개 차지.
- Mini-batch 의 micro-batch K개로 split → 매 동시에 다른 stage에서 처리.
- Bubble = 매 idle time. Bubble ratio ≈ (stages - 1) / K.

### 매 schedule 계열
1. **GPipe**: 매 forward all → backward all. 매 simple, 큰 bubble.
2. **1F1B (PipeDream)**: 매 1 forward, 1 backward 교대. 매 activation memory 절감.
3. **Interleaved 1F1B (Megatron)**: 매 stage 마다 여러 chunk → bubble 감소.
4. **Zero Bubble PP (2024)**: 매 backward를 W/B로 split → 매 거의 0 bubble.

## 💻 패턴

### PyTorch native PipelineStage (torch.distributed.pipelining)
```python
import torch
import torch.nn as nn
from torch.distributed.pipelining import pipeline, ScheduleGPipe, SplitPoint

class Block(nn.Module):
    def __init__(self, d): super().__init__(); self.l = nn.Linear(d, d)
    def forward(self, x): return torch.relu(self.l(x))

class Net(nn.Module):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.b1 = Block(1024); self.b2 = Block(1024)
        self.b3 = Block(1024); self.b4 = Block(1024)
    def forward(self, x):
        return self.b4(self.b3(self.b2(self.b1(x))))

model = Net()
example = torch.randn(8, 1024)

pipe = pipeline(
    model, mb_args=(example,),
    split_spec={"b3": SplitPoint.BEGINNING},  # stage0: b1-b2, stage1: b3-b4
)
stage = pipe.build_stage(stage_index=rank, device=f"cuda:{rank}")
sched = ScheduleGPipe(stage, n_microbatches=4, loss_fn=nn.MSELoss())
```

### 1F1B schedule 계산
```python
def schedule_1f1b(num_stages: int, num_microbatches: int):
    """매 stage 별 forward/backward 순서 emit"""
    ops = [[] for _ in range(num_stages)]
    warmup = num_stages
    for s in range(num_stages):
        n_warm = min(warmup - s, num_microbatches)
        for mb in range(n_warm):
            ops[s].append(("F", mb))
        for mb in range(num_microbatches - n_warm):
            ops[s].append(("F", n_warm + mb))
            ops[s].append(("B", mb))
        for mb in range(num_microbatches - n_warm, num_microbatches):
            ops[s].append(("B", mb))
    return ops
```

### Megatron-LM virtual pipeline
```python
# v_chunks=2 → stage0 holds {layer 0-7, layer 16-23}, stage1 holds {8-15, 24-31}
config = TransformerConfig(
    num_layers=32, hidden_size=8192,
    pipeline_model_parallel_size=4,
    virtual_pipeline_model_parallel_size=2,  # interleaved chunks
    num_microbatches=64,
)
```

### Activation recompute (memory bubble 완화)
```python
from torch.utils.checkpoint import checkpoint

class CheckpointedBlock(nn.Module):
    def forward(self, x):
        return checkpoint(self._fwd, x, use_reentrant=False)
    def _fwd(self, x): return self.attn(self.norm(x)) + x
```

### DeepSpeed PipelineModule
```python
import deepspeed
from deepspeed.pipe import PipelineModule, LayerSpec

specs = [LayerSpec(Block, 1024) for _ in range(8)]
model = PipelineModule(layers=specs, num_stages=4, partition_method="uniform")
engine, _, _, _ = deepspeed.initialize(model=model, config=ds_config)
loss = engine.train_batch(data_iter)
```

### 3D parallelism (TP × PP × DP)
```python
# 매 Megatron / NeMo 의 conventional layout
# world_size = TP × PP × DP
# Llama 3 405B 학습: TP=8, PP=16, DP=128 → 16384 GPUs
mesh = init_device_mesh("cuda", (DP, PP, TP), mesh_dim_names=("dp","pp","tp"))
```

## 매 결정 기준
| 상황 | Approach |
|---|---|
| 매 single node, ≤8 GPU | TP only (NVLink) |
| 매 multi-node, model > node mem | TP intra-node + PP inter-node |
| 매 100B+ params | TP × PP × DP (3D) |
| 매 inference latency 중요 | TP > PP (PP의 bubble 손해) |
| 매 throughput 중심 training | PP + DP 큰 micro-batch |

**기본값**: 매 LLM 학습은 1F1B + activation recompute + 3D parallel.

## 🔗 Graph
- 부모: [[Distributed Training]]

## 🤖 LLM 활용
**언제**: 매 모델 weight 가 단일 GPU mem 초과 + 매 multi-node training. 매 cross-node bandwidth 가 TP에 부족할 때.
**언제 X**: 매 단일 node 안 fits. 매 매우 작은 batch (bubble 비율 폭증). 매 inference latency-critical.

## ❌ 안티패턴
- **Bubble ignore**: 매 micro-batch K=1 → 매 GPU의 (stages-1)/stages 가 idle.
- **Uneven partition**: 매 stage 별 FLOPs 불균형 → 매 가장 느린 stage 가 throughput 결정.
- **PP only no DP**: 매 K 늘려도 batch size 한계 → 매 DP 병행 필수.
- **Embedding 분리 무시**: 매 input/output embedding 의 같은 stage 배치 → tied weight sync 단순.

## 🧪 검증 / 중복
- Verified (Megatron-LM paper, GPipe, PipeDream, PyTorch pipelining docs 2026).
- 신뢰도 A.

## 🕓 Changelog
| 날짜 | 변경 |
|---|---|
| 2026-05-08 | Phase 1 |
| 2026-05-10 | Manual cleanup — PP schedules + 3D parallel patterns |