Accession Number:

ADA604009

Title:

Efficient Local Data Movement in Shared-Memory Multiprocessor Systems

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

CALIFORNIA UNIV BERKELEY DEPT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCES

Personal Author(s):

• Tzou, Shin-Yuan
• Anderson, David P.
• Graham, G. S.

Report Date:

1987-12-01

Pagination or Media Count:

16.0

Abstract:

The DASH research project is addressing the general problem of achieving high-performance network communication in large-scale distributed systems. The efficiency of moving a large amount of data between virtual address spaces both user and kernel on a single machine is a major component of this problem. Virtual memory VM remapping, as opposed to memory copying, is an attractive approach to moving data. However, remapping in shared-memory multiprocessors can be costly due to the problem of translation lookaside buffer TLB inconsistency. This paper describes the design of the DASH mechanism for moving data between virtual address spaces. This design integrates interprocess communication IPC, virtual memory, and process scheduling mechanisms. By adopting a particular choice of IPC semantics based on a protected shared memory model, we are able to eliminate many of the overheads that would otherwise arise from VM remapping in shared-memory multiprocessors. Put simply, we reduce the need for synchronous unmapping and, when it is necessary, we do it efficiently.

Descriptors:

• *MEMORY DEVICES
• *MULTIPROCESSORS
• KERNEL FUNCTIONS
• NETWORKS
• SCHEDULING
• SEMANTICS

Subject Categories:

• Computer Hardware

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE