The MasPar scalable Unix I/O system

Author

Nickolls, John R.

Author_Institution

MasPar Comput. Corp., Sunnyvale, CA, USA

fYear

1994

fDate

26-29 Apr 1994

Firstpage

390

Lastpage

395

Abstract

Scalable parallel computers require I/O balanced with computational power to solve data-intensive problems. Distributed memory architectures call for I/O hardware and software beyond those of conventional scalar systems. This paper introduces the MasPar I/O system, designed to provide balanced and scalable data-parallel Unix I/O. The architecture and implementation of the I/O hardware and software are described. Key elements include parallel access to conventional Unix file descriptors and a self-routing multistage network coupled with a buffer memory for flexible parallel I/O transfers. Performance measurements are presented for parallel Unix I/O with a scalable RAID disk array, a RAM disk, and a HIPPI interconnect

Keywords

Unix; buffer storage; distributed memory systems; input-output programs; multiprocessing programs; network interfaces; parallel machines; performance evaluation; reconfigurable architectures; HIPPI interconnect; MasPar scalable Unix I/O system; RAM disk; Unix file descriptor; data-intensive problems; distributed memory architectures; parallel access; performance measurements; scalable RAID disk array; self-routing multistage network; Application software; Communication system control; Computer architecture; Concurrent computing; Hardware; Memory architecture; Parallel processing; Parallel programming; Process control; Reduced instruction set computing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Parallel Processing Symposium, 1994. Proceedings., Eighth International

Conference_Location

Cancun

Print_ISBN

0-8186-5602-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IPPS.1994.288272

Filename

288272