BanditPolicy Class

  • Reference

Defines an early termination policy based on slack criteria, and a frequency and delay interval for evaluation.

Initialize a BanditPolicy with slack factor, slack_amount, and evaluation interval.

Inheritance
azureml.train.hyperdrive.policy.EarlyTerminationPolicy
BanditPolicy

Constructor

BanditPolicy(evaluation_interval=1, slack_factor=None, slack_amount=None, delay_evaluation=0)

Parameters

slack_factor
float
default value: None

The ratio used to calculate the allowed distance from the best performing experiment run.

slack_amount
float
default value: None

The absolute distance allowed from the best performing run.

evaluation_interval
int
default value: 1

The frequency for applying the policy.

delay_evaluation
int
default value: 0

The number of intervals for which to delay the first policy evaluation. If specified, the policy applies every multiple of evaluation_interval that is greater than or equal to delay_evaluation.

slack_factor
float
Required

The ratio used to calculate the allowed distance from the best performing experiment run.

slack_amount
float
Required

The absolute distance allowed from the best performing run.

evaluation_interval
int
Required

The frequency for applying the policy.

delay_evaluation
int
Required

The number of intervals for which to delay the first policy evaluation. If specified, the policy applies every multiple of evaluation_interval that is greater than or equal to delay_evaluation.

Remarks

The Bandit policy takes the following configuration parameters:

  • slack_factor: The amount of slack allowed with respect to the best performing training run. This factor specifies the slack as a ratio.

  • slack_amount: The amount of slack allowed with respect to the best performing training run. This factor specifies the slack as an absolute amount.

  • evaluation_interval: Optional. The frequency for applying the policy. Each time the training script logs the primary metric counts as one interval.

  • delay_evaluation: Optional. The number of intervals to delay policy evaluation. Use this parameter to avoid premature termination of training runs. If specified, the policy applies every multiple of evaluation_interval that is greater than or equal to delay_evaluation.

Any run that doesn't fall within the slack factor or slack amount of the evaluation metric with respect to the best performing run will be terminated.

Consider a Bandit policy with slack_factor = 0.2 and evaluation_interval = 100. Assume that run X is the currently best performing run with an AUC (performance metric) of 0.8 after 100 intervals. Further, assume the best AUC reported for a run is Y. This policy compares the value (Y + Y * 0.2) to 0.8, and if smaller, cancels the run. If delay_evaluation = 200, then the first time the policy will be applied is at interval 200.

Now, consider a Bandit policy with slack_amount = 0.2 and evaluation_interval = 100. If Run 3 is the currently best performing run with an AUC (performance metric) of 0.8 after 100 intervals, then any run with an AUC less than 0.6 (0.8 - 0.2) after 100 iterations will be terminated. Similarly, the delay_evaluation can also be used to delay the first termination policy evaluation for a specific number of sequences.

For more information about applying early termination policies, see Tune hyperparameters for your model.

Attributes

delay_evaluation

Return the number of sequences for which the first evaluation is delayed.

Returns

The delay evaluation.

Return type

int

evaluation_interval

Return the evaluation interval value.

Returns

The evaluation interval.

Return type

int

slack_factor

Return the slack factor with respect to the best performing training run.

Returns

The slack factor.

Return type

float

POLICY_NAME 

POLICY_NAME = 'Bandit'