diff --git a/submit_mpi.py b/submit_mpi.py
index 83c97175e..3a65ec440 100755
--- a/submit_mpi.py
+++ b/submit_mpi.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ def mpi_submit(nslave, args):
          args arguments to launch each job
               this usually includes the parameters of master_uri and parameters passed into submit
     """
-    cmd = ' '.join(['mpirun -n %d -machinefile %s' % (nslave, args[0])] + args[1:])
+    cmd = ' '.join(['mpirun -n %d --hostfile %s' % (nslave, args[0])] + args[1:])
     print cmd
     subprocess.check_call(cmd, shell = True)
 
diff --git a/test/speed_runner.py b/test/speed_runner.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7331c9075
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/speed_runner.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import os
+import argparse
+import sys
+
+def main():
+  parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='TODO')
+  parser.add_argument('-ho', '--host_dir', required=True)
+  parser.add_argument('-s', '--submit_script', required=True)
+  parser.add_argument('-rex', '--rabit_exec', required=True)
+  parser.add_argument('-mpi', '--mpi_exec', required=True)
+  args = parser.parse_args()
+
+  ndata = [10**4, 10**5, 10**6, 10**7]
+  nrepeat = [10**4, 10**3, 10**2, 10]
+
+  machines = [2,4,8,16,31]
+
+  executables = [args.rabit_exec, args.mpi_exec]
+
+  for executable in executables:
+    sys.stderr.write('Executable %s' % executable)
+    sys.stderr.flush()
+    for i, data in enumerate(ndata):
+      for machine in machines:
+        host_file = os.path.join(args.host_dir, 'hosts%d' % machine)
+        cmd = 'python %s %d %s %s %d %d' % (args.submit_script, machine, host_file, executable, data, nrepeat[i])
+        sys.stderr.write('data=%d, repeat=%d, machine=%d\n' % (data, nrepeat[i], machine))
+        sys.stderr.flush()
+        os.system(cmd)
+    sys.stderr.write('\n')
+    sys.stderr.flush()
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+  main()
\ No newline at end of file