R. Sivaram et al., Implementing multidestination worms in switch-based parallel systems: Architectural alternatives and their impact, IEEE PARALL, 11(8), 2000, pp. 794-812
Citations number
49
Categorie Soggetti
Computer Science & Engineering
Journal title
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PARALLEL AND DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS
Multidestination message passing has been proposed as an attractive mechani
sm for efficiently implementing multicast and other collective operations o
n direct networks. However, applying this mechanism to switch-based paralle
l systems is nontrivial. In this paper, we propose alternative switch archi
tectures with differing buffer organizations to implement multidestination
worms on switch-based parallel systems. First, we discuss issues related to
such implementation (deadlock-freedom, replication mechanisms, header enco
ding, and routing). Next, we demonstrate how an existing central-buffer-bas
ed switch architecture supporting unicast message passing can be enhanced t
o accommodate multidestination message passing. Similarly, implementing mul
tidestination worms on an input-buffer-based switch architecture is discuss
ed, and two architectural alternatives are presented that reduce the wiring
complexity in a practical switch implementation. The central-buffer-based
and input-buffer-based implementations are evaluated against each other, as
well as against the corresponding software-based schemes. Simulation exper
iments under a range of traffic (multiple multicast, bimodal, varying degre
e of multicast, and message length) and system size are used for evaluation
. The study demonstrates the superiority of the central-buffer-based switch
architecture. It also indicates that under bimodal traffic the central-buf
fer-based hardware multicast implementation affects background unicast traf
fic less adversely compared to a software-based multicast implementation. T
hese results show that multidestination message passing can be applied easi
ly and effectively to switch-based parallel systems to deliver good multica
st and collective communication performance.