First IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGrid'01)
A New Software Architecture for the BIP/Myrinet Firmware
Brisbane, Australia
May 15-May 18
ISBN: 0-7695-1010-8
BIP [5] is a low level communication layer for the Myrinet network which includes a dedicated firmware. We identified several flaws in the design of this firmware and based on our experience decided to rethink it. Our goal is to better use the hardware resources and to ensure the best possible flows of data through the channel controlled by the firmware. This results in new architecture based on an event-driven heart, optimized pipelining of communications and the possibility to use hardware communication channels asynchronously. Experiments demonstrate the efficiency of the new design.