Exploring the Performance of VI Architecture Communication Features in the Giganet Cluster LAN.
Hermann Hellwagner, Markus Lachowitz, Matthias Ohlenroth · 2000
. The Virtual Interface (VI) Architecture standard was developed to satisfy the need for a high-throughput, low-latency communication system required for cluster computing. This paper presents the results of a performance study of one VI Architecture hardware implementation, the Giganet cLAN (Cluster LAN). The focus of the study is to assess and compare the performance of dierent VI Architecture data transfer modes and specic features that are available to higher-level communication software like MPI, in order to aid the implementor to decide which VI Architecture options to employ for various communication scenarios. Examples of such options include the use of send/receive vs. RDMA data transfers, polling vs. blocking to check completion of communication operations, multiple VIs, completion queues, and scatter capabilities of VI Architecture. 1 Introduction The performance of parallel applications running on clusters depends on the implementation of the nodes and the LAN or SAN (s...