Approach to scalability study of shared memory parallel systems

Anand Sivasubramaniam, Aman Singla, Umakishore Ramachandran, H. Venkateswaran

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

The overheads in a parallel system that limit its scalability need to be identified and separated in order to enable parallel algorithm design and the development of parallel machines. Such overheads may be broadly classified into two components. The first one is intrinsic to the algorithm and arises due to factors such as the work-imbalance and the serial fraction. The second one is due to the interaction between the algorithm and the architecture and arises due to latency and contention in the network. A top-down approach to scalability study of shared memory parallel systems is proposed in this research. We define the notion of overhead functions associated with the different algorithmic and architectural characteristics to quantify the scalability of parallel systems; we isolate the algorithmic overhead and the overheads due to network latency and contention from the overall execution time of an application; we design and implement an execution-driven simulation platform that incorporates these methods for quantifying the overhead functions; and we use this simulator to study the scalability characteristics of five applications on shared memory platforms with different communication topologies.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationPerformance Evaluation Review
PublisherPubl by ACM
Pages171-180
Number of pages10
Edition1
ISBN (Print)089791659X, 9780897916592
DOIs
StatePublished - 1994
EventProceedings of the 1994 ACM Sigmetrics on Measurement and Modeling of Computer Systems - Nashville, TN, USA
Duration: May 16 1994May 20 1994

Publication series

NamePerformance Evaluation Review
Number1
Volume22
ISSN (Print)0163-5999

Other

OtherProceedings of the 1994 ACM Sigmetrics on Measurement and Modeling of Computer Systems
CityNashville, TN, USA
Period5/16/945/20/94

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Software
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Computer Networks and Communications

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