The Balance multiprocessor system

Author

Thakkar, Sanjeev ; Gifford, Paul ; Fielland, Gary

Author_Institution

Sequent Comput. Syst. Inc., Beaverton, OR, USA

Volume

8

Issue

1

fYear

1988

Firstpage

57

Lastpage

69

Abstract

A description is given of the architecture, operating system, and performance of Balance, a shared-memory, tightly coupled multiprocessor system. Balance can contain two to thirty 32-bit microprocessors with an aggregate performance of up to 21 million instructions per second (MIPS). Each processor has a private cache as well as a small local memory to hold frequently used kernel routines. The system features a high-bandwidth pipelined bus, up to 28 Mbytes of main memory, a diagnostic and console processor, up to four IEEE 769 (Multibus) adapters, an IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) LAN interface, and an ANSI Small Computer System Interface (SCSI). Dynix, a multiprocessor operating system supporting both the 4.2 BSD and System V Unix environments, manages Balance, providing transparent support for multiprocessing as well as tools and libraries for developing parallel applications. The various subsystems and the Dynix operating system are examined. Applications and performance are discussed.<>

Keywords

computer interfaces; multiprocessing systems; operating systems (computers); parallel architectures; 21 MIPS; 21 million instructions per second; 28 MB; 28 Mbytes of main memory; 32 bit; 32-bit microprocessors; Balance multiprocessor system; Dynix; LAN interface; MIPS; Multibus; SCSI; Unix; architecture; high-bandwidth pipelined bus; multiprocessing; multiprocessor operating system; operating system; parallel applications; shared-memory; tightly coupled multiprocessor system; Aggregates; Application software; Computer interfaces; Environmental management; Ethernet networks; Kernel; Local area networks; Microprocessors; Multiprocessing systems; Operating systems;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Micro, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0272-1732

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/40.521

Filename

521