# Using multiple chains in SMC in PyMC3

**URL:** <https://discourse.pymc.io/t/using-multiple-chains-in-smc-in-pymc3/8369>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Tags:** smc\_abc\
**Created:** [November 26, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/using-multiple-chains-in-smc-in-pymc3/8369 "2021-11-26T16:19:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![teresakarolin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@teresakarolin](https://discourse.pymc.io/u/teresakarolin)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/using-multiple-chains-in-smc-in-pymc3/8369/1 "2021-11-26T16:19:59Z")

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Hi,  
I am currently using pymc3 version 3.9.2 and decided I wanted to try out the SMC sampler. I have been studying this notebook: [https://docs.pymc.io/en/v3/pymcexamples/examples/samplers/SMC2\_gaussians.html](https://docs.pymc.io/en/v3/pymcexamples/examples/samplers/SMC2_gaussians.html)  
which apparently uses 3.9.1. In the notebook it is printed “Multiprocess sampling (2 chains in 2 jobs)”, which my SMC sampler never printed. I always just get one chain (I know SMC uses multiple more internal chains, but for the calculation of Rhat for example I’d need several “real” chains). I looked into the source code of pymc on github ([pymc/sample\_smc.py at main · pymc-devs/pymc · GitHub](https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/blob/main/pymc/smc/sample_smc.py)), where I found that I could change n\_chains, but apparently that does not work on my pymc version yet, so I tried updating to 3.11.4, the currently newest version. Nevertheless, the SMC sampler is not updated, so I still cannot change the kernel and the number of chains for example. Am I doing something wrong? I don’t want to update to pymc4 and since I am also using quite some theano calculations, I’d also prefer to not update to pymc-theano.  
I’d appreciate any help!

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**Author:** ![cluhmann](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.pymc.io/cluhmann/32/3083_2.png) [@cluhmann](https://discourse.pymc.io/u/cluhmann)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2021, 9:44pm UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/using-multiple-chains-in-smc-in-pymc3/8369/2 "2021-11-26T21:44:55Z")

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What platform are you on? And what does the output look like for you?

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**Author:** ![OriolAbril](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.pymc.io/oriolabril/32/2497_2.png) [@OriolAbril](https://discourse.pymc.io/u/OriolAbril)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 2:51am UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/using-multiple-chains-in-smc-in-pymc3/8369/3 "2021-11-27T02:51:45Z")

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> [@teresakarolin](#):
>
> I’d also prefer to not update to pymc-theano

PyMC 3.11.4 uses theano-pymc 🤔 maybe it would be a good idea to try creting a new environment and installing from scratch to make sure you don’t have both theano and theano-pymc or incompatible linkings between the two. There are installation instructions in our github wiki: [Installation Guide (Linux) · pymc-devs/pymc Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/wiki/Installation-Guide-(Linux)) (also for mac and windows)

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**Author:** ![teresakarolin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@teresakarolin](https://discourse.pymc.io/u/teresakarolin)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 4:25pm UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/using-multiple-chains-in-smc-in-pymc3/8369/4 "2021-11-28T16:25:42Z")

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Thanks for the replies! I am even more confused now though.

I am working on a Linux cluster, in a conda environment with python 3.7. For me the output looks like this:  
“Sample initial stage: …  
Stage: 0 Beta: 0.000 Steps: 5 Acce: 1.000”

It prints these lines until it finishes and it gives me a trace of shape (n\_draws,). So just the line with the number of chains is missing, that I saw in the example.

I tried setting up a fresh environment, but I still have problems (see below). My further questions are:

1. Since the example I linked in my original post uses pymc 3.9 as well, but they can still sample multiple chains with SMC, I thought that should be possible with pymc 3.9.2. Is there any keyword apart from n\_chains that I a missing?

2. As described above, in the source code of the newest pymc 3 version on github I can see the parameter n\_chains and e.g. the IMH kernel in the sample\_smc.py file. The source code of pymc 3.11.4 and older versions does not contain these updates however. So, are these not included in any packaged pymc version yet?

3. I tried installing pymc directly from github to get the newest features, following the instructions given at [Installation Guide (Linux) · pymc-devs/pymc Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/wiki/Installation-Guide-(Linux)) in a fresh environment. But, then the installed version is 4.0, which I do not want. It then says: “You are running the v4 development version of PyMC which currently still lacks key features. You probably want to use the stable v3 instead which you can either install via conda or find on the v3 GitHub branch: [GitHub - pymc-devs/pymc at v3](https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/tree/v3)”, which is precisely where I got the installation from…

So, I am not sure what to do here, I just want to have an SMC sampler which can sample multiple parallel chains and uses the IMH kernel…

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**Author:** ![ricardoV94](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.pymc.io/ricardov94/32/5775_2.png) [@ricardoV94](https://discourse.pymc.io/u/ricardoV94)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 2:16pm UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/using-multiple-chains-in-smc-in-pymc3/8369/5 "2021-11-29T14:16:28Z")

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The source code you are seeing on github corresponds to V4 which is now the master/main branch in github. When you follow the Wiki installation instructions you will get that version. You probably want V3 which you can get by conda/pip installing pymc3 the usual way.

> <https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/blob/v3/pymc3/smc/sample_smc.py>

If you want to install from github (not recommended) you would need to clone the repo and checkout the v3 branch and then install with `pip install -e <path_to_cloned_repo>`.

The API of `sample_smc` in V3 was not as harmonized with `sample` as in the future V4. Anyway you have the keyword `chains` there and optionally the keyowrd `parallel` if you want those multiple chains to be sampled in parallel.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![teresakarolin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@teresakarolin](https://discourse.pymc.io/u/teresakarolin)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 10:54am UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/using-multiple-chains-in-smc-in-pymc3/8369/6 "2021-12-03T10:54:22Z")

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Hi,

thanks for the answers! I am working with pymc 3.11.4 now and I’ll probably wait until an official version of pymc 4 is released. The problem was that I accidentally loaded some packages, among others theano, from outside my conda environment. I now finally have the chains argument and it works fine, so thank you for that.

I have some questions concerning multiprocessing now though. I saw that sample\_smc overwrites the number of cores if I only give it one chain. That was not the case in the older pymc version I used before, where one could calculate across multiple cores even with only one SMC chain. Why was it changed? And should I then specify n\_cores similar to the number of chains or is it useful to have even more cores?  
Also, one more question, although I am not sure you can help me with that. I am working on a linux cluster, and everything works fine when I run an SMC sampler with e.g. 3 chains and 16 cores. When I however submit the same job via condor, I get weird error messages and the trace is not saved. I am not sure if it is a condor or a pymc error, or if something in the cluster setup is not working correctly, so I will also ask our administrator about it, but maybe someone of you has encountered similar problems and is able to help. I’ll paste the error message below.

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**Author:** ![teresakarolin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@teresakarolin](https://discourse.pymc.io/u/teresakarolin)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 10:55am UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/using-multiple-chains-in-smc-in-pymc3/8369/7 "2021-12-03T10:55:31Z")

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Initializing SMC sampler…  
Sampling 3 chains in 16 jobs  
multiprocessing.pool.RemoteTraceback:  
“”"  
Traceback (most recent call last):  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/multiprocessing/pool.py”, line 125, in worker  
result = (True, func(\*args, \*\*kwds))  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/multiprocessing/pool.py”, line 51, in starmapstar  
return list(itertools.starmap(args[0], args[1]))  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pymc3/smc/sample\_smc.py”, line 267, in sample\_smc\_int  
smc.setup\_kernel()  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pymc3/smc/smc.py”, line 135, in setup\_kernel  
self.likelihood\_logp\_func = logp\_forw([self.model.datalogpt], self.variables, shared)  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pymc3/model.py”, line 1046, in datalogpt  
factors += [tt.sum(factor) for factor in self.potentials]  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pymc3/model.py”, line 1046, in   
factors += [tt.sum(factor) for factor in self.potentials]  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/theano/tensor/basic.py”, line 3221, in sum  
out = elemwise.Sum(axis=axis, dtype=dtype, acc\_dtype=acc\_dtype)(input)  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/theano/graph/op.py”, line 253, in **call**  
compute\_test\_value(node)  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/theano/graph/op.py”, line 126, in compute\_test\_value  
thunk = node.op.make\_thunk(node, storage\_map, compute\_map, no\_recycling=[])  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/theano/graph/op.py”, line 634, in make\_thunk  
return self.make\_c\_thunk(node, storage\_map, compute\_map, no\_recycling)  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/theano/graph/op.py”, line 600, in make\_c\_thunk  
outputs = cl.make\_thunk(  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/theano/link/c/basic.py”, line 1203, in make\_thunk  
cthunk, module, in\_storage, out\_storage, error\_storage = self. **compile** (  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/theano/link/c/basic.py”, line 1138, in **compile**  
thunk, module = self.cthunk\_factory(  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/theano/link/c/basic.py”, line 1634, in cthunk\_factory  
module = get\_module\_cache().module\_from\_key(key=key, lnk=self)  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/theano/link/c/cmodule.py”, line 1157, in module\_from\_key  
module = self.\_get\_from\_hash(module\_hash, key)  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/theano/link/c/cmodule.py”, line 1060, in \_get\_from\_hash  
key\_data.add\_key(key, save\_pkl=bool(key[0]))  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/theano/link/c/cmodule.py”, line 497, in add\_key  
assert key not in self.keys  
AssertionError  
“”"

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):  
File “…/fit/fit\_test\_pymc.py”, line 432, in   
trace = pm.sample\_smc(start=start, draws=kw.n\_draws, n\_steps=kw.n\_tune\_smc, chains=kw.n\_chains,  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pymc3/smc/sample\_smc.py”, line 196, in sample\_smc  
results = pool.starmap(  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/multiprocessing/pool.py”, line 372, in starmap  
return self.\_map\_async(func, iterable, starmapstar, chunksize).get()  
File “/net/scratch/auger/conda/envs/teresa\_py38\_pymc311/lib/python3.8/multiprocessing/pool.py”, line 771, in get  
raise self.\_value  
AssertionError

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**Author:** ![ricardoV94](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.pymc.io/ricardov94/32/5775_2.png) [@ricardoV94](https://discourse.pymc.io/u/ricardoV94)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 11:56am UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/using-multiple-chains-in-smc-in-pymc3/8369/8 "2021-12-03T11:56:27Z")

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Seems like you are passing some wrong arguments. Can you show the code you are actually trying to run?

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**Author:** ![teresakarolin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@teresakarolin](https://discourse.pymc.io/u/teresakarolin)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 12:05pm UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/using-multiple-chains-in-smc-in-pymc3/8369/9 "2021-12-03T12:05:47Z")

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The code is very long and the model quite complicated. I am currently working on a minimal example which hopefully reproduces the error. In short, the model looks something like this:

spectrum\_parameters = pm.Uniform(‘spectrum\_parameters’, 0, 1, shape=n\_fit\_params, transform=None, testval=np.random.uniform(0.4, 0.6, size=n\_fit\_params))  
x = pm.Uniform(“x”, 0, 1, shape=4, testval=np.array([0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8]), transform=None)  
pm.Potential(“order\_means”, tt.switch(x[1] - x[0] \< 0, -np.inf, 0) + tt.switch(x[2] - x[1] \< 0, -np.inf, 0) + tt.switch(x[3] - x[2] \< 0, -np.inf, 0))

…

pm.Potential(“like”, logp(reweight\_matrix, S, B, f, gumbel\_matrix, syst\_xmax\_scale, syst\_energy\_scale))

trace = pm.sample\_smc(start=start, draws=kw.n\_draws, n\_steps=25, chains=kw.n\_chains,  
parallel=True, cores=kw.n\_cores, threshold=0.5)

The second potential is my likelihood function, for which I first calculate the parameters reweight\_matrix, S, B, f, gumbel\_matrix, syst\_xmax\_scale, syst\_energy\_scale) from x and spectrum\_parameters.  
Here start is a dictionary of start values, which I need because I have a potential enforcing an ordering in some parameters and otherwise the sampler wouldn’t run due to -inf in logp. draws can be anything, the error happens independent of that. I tried with various combinations of chains and cores parameters.

I am just confused why it would run normally except when I submit it via condor. I’d also be fine with letting each run independently, so submitting with chains=1 multiple times and then combining them afterwards. This already works, but as I said before then pymc sets cores to 1 and everything becomes slow.

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**Author:** ![teresakarolin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@teresakarolin](https://discourse.pymc.io/u/teresakarolin)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 2:51pm UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/using-multiple-chains-in-smc-in-pymc3/8369/10 "2021-12-03T14:51:26Z")

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I’ll post this as a new issue, as I think it has nothing much to do with the title anymore. Thanks!