Abstract-Simulation is a popular approach for predicting the performance of MPI applications for platforms that are not at one's disposal. It is also a way to teach the principles of parallel programming and high-performance computing to students without access to a parallel computer. In this work we present SMPI, a simulator for MPI applications that uses on-line simulation, i.e., the application is executed but part of the execution takes place within a simulation component. SMPI simulations account for network contention in a fast and scalable manner. SMPI also implements an original and validated piecewise linear model for data transfer times between cluster nodes. Finally SMPI simulations of large-scale applications on largescale platforms can be executed on a single node thanks to techniques to reduce the simulation's compute time and memory footprint. These contributions are validated via a large set of experiments in which SMPI is compared to popular MPI implementations with a view to assess its accuracy, scalability, and speed.
SMPI REF , which builds on the same simulation kernel as this work, implement all the above techniques to allow for efficient single-node simulation of MPI applications.
Single Node On-Line Simulation of MPI Applications with SMPI
2011 IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium
2011 IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium
Computer Science