Abstract
Shared Virtual Memory (SVM) provides a low-cost and effective way to implement the shared-memory programming paradigm. SVMs utilize a number of concepts that include consistency models/protocols, sharing patterns, false sharing, and fragmentation issues. The range of issues encountered in an SVM introduces a level of complexity and presents a challenge to many SVM researchers.
This paper presents a careful study of SVM systems focusing on how the workload characteristics can affect the performace of consistency protocols. This knowledge is used to propose a novel consistency protocol that improves the system performance.
This paper pursues two main goals: (i) to illustrate how different SVM workload characteristics are interrelated, and (ii) to motivate the design of a new multiple-writer memory consistency protocol. To achieve the first goal, we provide a detailed workload characterization analysis and discussion on how consistency models and protocols work. To achieve the second goal, we describe a software-based SVM protocol that achieves better performance than a hardware protocol proposed in the literature. In some workloads, the speedup obtained over the baseline protocol is more than 20%.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Li K, Hudak P (1986) Memory coherence in shared virtual memory systems. In Proceedings of the 5th Annual Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing
Li K (1988) IVY: A shared virtual memory system for parallel computing. In Proceedings of the 1988 International Conference on Parallel Processing
Jiang D, Shan H, Singh JP (1997) Application restructuring and performance portability across shared virtual memory and hardware-coherent multiprocessors. In Proceedings of the 6th Symposium on Principles and Practice of Parallel Programming
Iftode L, Singh JP, Li K (1996) Understanding application performance on shared virtual memory. In Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Symposium on Computer Architecture
Bilas A, Liao C, Singh JP (1999) Using network interface support to avoid asynchronous protocol processing in shared virtual memory systems. In Proceedings of the 26th Annual International Symposium on Computer Architecture
Zhou Y, Iftode L, Singh JP, Li K, Toonen BR, Schoinas L, Hill MD, Wood DA (1997) Relaxed consistency and coherence granurality in DSM systems: A Performance evaluation. In Proceedings of 6th Symposium on Principles and Practice of Parallel Programming
Petit S, Sahuquillo J, Pont A (2001) About the sensitivity of the HLRC_DU protocol to the written area size and page size. In Proceedings of the 2001 IEEE International Symposium on Performance Analysis of Systems and Software
Petit S, Sahuquillo J, Pont A, Kaeli D (2004) Characterizing the dynamic behavior of workload execution in SVM systems. In Proceedings of the 16-th Symposium on Computer Architecture and High Performance Computing
Davis H, Goldschmidt SR, Henessy J (1991) Multiprocessor simulation and tracing using tango. In Proceedings of the 1991 Conference on Parallel Processing
Woo S, Ohara M, Torrie E, Pal Singh J, Gupta A (1995) The SPLASH-2 programs: Characterization and methodological considerations. In Proceedings of the 21st Annual International Symposium on Computer Architecture
Bilas A, Singh JP (1997) The effects of communication parameters on end performance of shared virtual memory clusters. In Proceedings of the Supercomputing ‘97 Conference
Iftode L, Singh JP (1999) Shared virtual memory: Progress and challenges. In Proceedings of the IEEE, 87(3)
Gharachorloo K, Lenoski D, Laudon J, Gibbons P, Gupta A, Henessy J (1990) Memory consistency and event ordering in scalable shared-memory multiprocessors. In Proceedings of the 17th Annual Symposium on Computer Architecture
Keleher P (1995) Lazy release consistency for distributed shared memory, Ph.D. Thesis, Rice University
Carter JB, Bennet JK, Zwaenepoel W (1991) Implementation and performance of Munin. In Proceedings of the 13th Symposium on Operating Systems Principles
Swanson M, Stoller L, Carter JB (1998) Making distributed shared memory simple, yet efficient. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on High-Level Parallel Programming Models and Supportive Environments
Keleher P, Cox AL, Dwarkadas S, Zwaenepoel W (1994) TreadMarks: Distributed shared memory on standard workstations and operating systems. In Proceedings of the Winter 1994 USENIX Conference
Zhou Y, Iftode L, Li K (1996) Performance evaluation of two home-based lazy release consistency protocols for shared virtual memory systems. In Proceedings of the 2nd Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation
Bianchini R, Kontothanassis LI, Pinto R, De Maria M, Abud M, Amorim CL (1996) Hiding communication latency and coherence overhead in software DSMs. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems
Blumrich MA, Alpert RD, Bilas A, Chen Y, Clark DW, Damianakis S, Dubnicki C, Felten EW, Iftode L, Li K, Martonosi M, Shillner RA (1998) Design choices in the SHRIMP system: An empirical study. In Proceedings of the 25th Annual Symposium on Computer Architecture
Stets R, Dwarkadas S, Komothanassis L, Rencuzogullari U, Scott ML (2000) The effect of network total order, broadcast and remote-write capability on network-based shared memory computing. In Proceedings of the 6th Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture
Speight E, Bennett J (1998) Using multicast and multithreading to reduce communication in software DSM systems. In Proceedings of the 4th Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture
Petit S, Gil JA, Sahuquillo J, Pont A (2000) LIDE: A simulation environment for shared virtual memory systems. ACM Computer News 28(4)
Petit S, Sahuquillo J, Pont A (2005) A comparison study of the HLRC-DU protocol versus a HLRC hardware assisted protocol. In P roceedings of the 13th Euromicro Conference on Parallel, Distributed and Network-based Processing
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Petit, S., Sahuquillo, J., Pont, A. et al. Addressing a workload characterization study to the design of consistency protocols. J Supercomput 38, 49–72 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-006-7866-4
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-006-7866-4