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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Integrating Theory And Practice In Parallel File Systems, Thomas H. Cormen, David Kotz
Integrating Theory And Practice In Parallel File Systems, Thomas H. Cormen, David Kotz
Dartmouth Scholarship
Several algorithms for parallel disk systems have appeared in the literature recently, and they are asymptotically optimal in terms of the number of disk accesses. Scalable systems with parallel disks must be able to run these algorithms. We present for the first time a list of capabilities that must be provided by the system to support these optimal algorithms: control over declustering, querying about the configuration, independent I/O, and turning off parity, file caching, and prefetching. We summarize recent theoretical and empirical work that justifies the need for these capabilities. In addition, we sketch an organization for a parallel file …
A Message Passing Interface For Parallel And Distributed Computing, Salim Hariri, Jongbaek Park, Fang-Kuo Yu, Manish Parashar
A Message Passing Interface For Parallel And Distributed Computing, Salim Hariri, Jongbaek Park, Fang-Kuo Yu, Manish Parashar
Northeast Parallel Architecture Center
The proliferation of high performance workstations and the emergence of high speed networks have attracted a lot of interest in parallel and distributed computing (PDC). We envision that PDC environments with supercomputing capabilities will be available in the near future. However, a number of hardware and software issues have to be resolved before the full potential of these PDC environments can be exploited. The presented research has the following objectives: (1) to characterize the message-passing primitives used in parallel and distributed computing; (2) to develop a communication protocol that supports PDC; and (3) to develop an architectural support for PDC …
Complete Exchange On A Wormhole Routed Mesh, Rajeev Thakur, Alok Choudhary, Geoffrey C. Fox
Complete Exchange On A Wormhole Routed Mesh, Rajeev Thakur, Alok Choudhary, Geoffrey C. Fox
Northeast Parallel Architecture Center
The complete exchange (or all-to-all personalized) communication pattern occurs frequently in many important parallel computing applications. We discuss several algorithms to perform complete exchange on a two dimensional mesh connected computer with wormhole routing. We propose algorithms for both powerof -two and non power-of-two meshes as well as an algorithm which works for any arbitrary mesh. We have developed analytical models to estimate the performance of the algorithms on the basis of system parameters. These models take into account the effects of link contention and other characteristics of the communication system. Performance results on the Intel Touchstone Delta are presented …
Multiprocessor File System Interfaces, David Kotz
Multiprocessor File System Interfaces, David Kotz
Dartmouth Scholarship
Increasingly, file systems for multiprocessors are designed with parallel access to multiple disks, to keep I/O from becoming a serious bottleneck for parallel applications. Although file system software can transparently provide high-performance access to parallel disks, a new file system interface is needed to facilitate parallel access to a file from a parallel application. We describe the difficulties faced when using the conventional (Unix-like) interface in parallel applications, and then outline ways to extend the conventional interface to provide convenient access to the file for parallel programs, while retaining the traditional interface for programs that have no need for explicitly …
Practical Prefetching Techniques For Multiprocessor File Systems, David Kotz, Carla Schlatter Ellis
Practical Prefetching Techniques For Multiprocessor File Systems, David Kotz, Carla Schlatter Ellis
Dartmouth Scholarship
Improvements in the processing speed of multiprocessors are outpacing improvements in the speed of disk hardware. Parallel disk I/O subsystems have been proposed as one way to close the gap between processor and disk speeds. In a previous paper we showed that prefetching and caching have the potential to deliver the performance benefits of parallel file systems to parallel applications. In this paper we describe experiments with practical prefetching policies that base decisions only on on-line reference history, and that can be implemented efficiently. We also test the ability of these policies across a range of architectural parameters.