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Shared virtual memory on loosely coupled multiprocessors

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:6674218

This dissertation demonstrates that parallel programs using shared virtual memory on loosely coupled multiprocessors can achieve orders-of-magnitude speedups over a uniprocessor and that it is practical to implement a shared virtual memory on existing architectures. Virtual memory has proven benefits. Today, almost every high-performance sequential computer has one. While one can easily imagine how virtual memory would be incorporated into a shared-memory parallel machine, on a multiprocessor in which the physical memory is distributed, the implementations of virtual memory is not obvious. Algorithms are presented for solving memory-coherence problems in a shared virtual memory on loosely coupled multiprocessors. It discusses basic mechanisms for process scheduling (including process migration) and memory management. Many different strategies are presented, analyzed, and compared, and a few of the most viable ones are chosen for implementation. A prototype system, IVY, was implemented on a local area network of Apollo workstations.

Research Organization:
Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (USA)
OSTI ID:
6674218
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English