Modeling MPI communication performance on SMP nodes: Is it time to retire the ping pong test

William Gropp, Luke N. Olson, Philipp Samfass

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

The "postal" model of communication [3, 8] T = a + ßn, for sending n bytes of data between two processes with latency a and bandwidth 1/ß, is perhaps the most commonly used communication performance model in parallel computing. This performance model is often used in developing and evaluating parallel algorithms in high-performance computing, and was an effective model when it was first proposed. Consequently, numerous tests of "ping pong" communication have been developed in order to measure these parameters in the model. However, with the advent of multicore nodes connected to a single (or a few) network interfaces, the model has become a poor match to modern hardware. In this paper, we show a simple three-parameter model that better captures the behavior of current parallel computing systems, and demonstrate its accuracy on several systems. In support of this model, which we call the max-rate model, we have developed an open source benchmark1 that can be used to determine the model parameters.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 23rd European MPI Users' Group Meeting, EuroMPI 2016
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages41-50
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9781450342346
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 25 2016
Event23rd European MPI Users' Group Meeting, EuroMPI 2016 - Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Duration: Sep 25 2016Sep 28 2016

Publication series

NameACM International Conference Proceeding Series
Volume25-28-September-2016

Other

Other23rd European MPI Users' Group Meeting, EuroMPI 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityEdinburgh
Period9/25/169/28/16

Keywords

  • Bandwidth saturation
  • Benchmark
  • Communication
  • Multicore
  • Parallel computing
  • Performance model
  • Ping pong
  • Symmetric multiprocessor cluster

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
  • Computer Networks and Communications

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