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High Performance Programming Using Explicit Shared Memory Model on Cray T3D1The Cray T3D system is the first-phase system in Cray Research, Inc.'s (CRI) three-phase massively parallel processing (MPP) program. This system features a heterogeneous architecture that closely couples DEC's Alpha microprocessors and CRI's parallel-vector technology, i.e., the Cray Y-MP and Cray C90. An overview of the Cray T3D hardware and available programming models is presented. Under Cray Research adaptive Fortran (CRAFT) model four programming methods (data parallel, work sharing, message-passing using PVM, and explicit shared memory model) are available to the users. However, at this time data parallel and work sharing programming models are not available to the user community. The differences between standard PVM and CRI's PVM are highlighted with performance measurements such as latencies and communication bandwidths. We have found that the performance of neither standard PVM nor CRI s PVM exploits the hardware capabilities of the T3D. The reasons for the bad performance of PVM as a native message-passing library are presented. This is illustrated by the performance of NAS Parallel Benchmarks (NPB) programmed in explicit shared memory model on Cray T3D. In general, the performance of standard PVM is about 4 to 5 times less than obtained by using explicit shared memory model. This degradation in performance is also seen on CM-5 where the performance of applications using native message-passing library CMMD on CM-5 is also about 4 to 5 times less than using data parallel methods. The issues involved (such as barriers, synchronization, invalidating data cache, aligning data cache etc.) while programming in explicit shared memory model are discussed. Comparative performance of NPB using explicit shared memory programming model on the Cray T3D and other highly parallel systems such as the TMC CM-5, Intel Paragon, Cray C90, IBM-SP1, etc. is presented.
Document ID
20010114149
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Simon, Horst D.
(Computer Sciences Corp. Moffett Field, CA United States)
Saini, Subhash
(Computer Sciences Corp. Moffett Field, CA United States)
Grassi, Charles
(Cray Research, Inc. Eagan, MN United States)
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
May 16, 1994
Subject Category
Astronomy
Meeting Information
Meeting: Supercomputin ''94
Location: Washington, DC
Country: United States
Start Date: November 14, 1994
End Date: November 18, 1994
Funding Number(s)
PROJECT: RTOP 536-01-11
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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