An Extensible Message Layer for High-Performance Clusters.
Craig Ulmer, Sudhakar Yalamanchili · 2000
Resource rich clusters are an emerging category of computational platform where cluster nodes have both CPUs as well as highperformance I/O cards. These clusters target specific applications such as digital libraries, web servers, and multimedia kiosks. The presence of communication endpoints at locations other than the host CPU requires a re-examination of how middleware for these clusters should be constructed. A key issue of middleware design is the management of flow control for the reliable delivery of messages. We propose using a network interface based optimistic flow control scheme to address resource rich cluster requirements. We implement this functionality with a message layer called GRIM, and compare its general performance to other well-known message layers. This implementation suggests that the necessary middleware functionality can not only be constructed efficiently, but also in a way that provides additional middleware benefits. 1.