A single NDGM system can mix nodes utilizing different drivers. A parallel, computationally intensive code can write a snapshot of data to NDGM then continue its processing. The data can then be visually inspected, through 2D plots and 3D surfaces, while not inhibiting the progress of the code. NDGM provides a distributed, heterogeneous unstructured buffer. HDF, a well known and widely used format, is designed to allow an orderly access to structured and unstructured datasets.
All access is accomplished through a well-defined application programmer s interface.
HDF is designed to access data via disk files. DICE alters some of the low level access routines to allow HDF to access NDGM as well as disk files. HDF uses filenames in several of its API routines. If the domain is omitted, a disk file is assumed. This new HDF layer allows a single application to store data on disk, in distributed memory, or in both.