MPI windows on storage for HPC applications

• Upcoming HPC clusters will feature hybrid memories and storage devices per compute node. In this work, we propose to use the MPI one-sided communication model and MPI windows as unique interface for programming memory and storage. We describe the design and implementation of MPI windows on storage, and present its benefits for out-of-core execution, parallel I/O and fault-tolerance. Using a modified STREAM micro-benchmark, we measure the sustained bandwidth of MPI windows on storage against MPI memory windows and observe that only a 10% performance penalty is incurred. When using parallel file systems such as Lustre, asymmetric performance is observed with a 10% performance penalty in reading operations and a 90% in writing operations. Nonetheless, experimental results of a Distributed Hash Table and the HACC I/O kernel mini-application show that the overall penalty of MPI windows on storage can be negligible in most cases on real-world applications. 

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Datavetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Computer Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Datorteknik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Computer Engineering (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

MPI windows on storage

Out-of-core computation

Parallel I/O

Fault tolerance

File organization

Virtual storage

Design and implementations

Distributed Hash Table

Mini applications

One sided communication

Parallel file system

Performance penalties

Benchmarking

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