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Computing global virtual time in shared-memory multiprocessors

Authors:

Richard M. Fujimoto,

Maria HybinetteAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation (TOMACS), Volume 7, Issue 4

Pages 425 - 446

https://doi.org/10.1145/268403.268404

Published: 01 October 1997 Publication History

Abstract

Global virtual time (GVT) is used in the Time Warp synchronization mechanism to perform irrevocable operations such as I/O and to reclaim storage. Most existing algorithms for computing GVT assume a message-passing programming model. Here, GVT computation is examined in the context of a shared-memory model. We observe that computation of GVT is much simpler in shared-memory multiprocessors because these machines normally guarantee that no two processors will observe a set of memory operations as occurring in different orders. Exploiting this fact, we propose an efficient, asynchronous, shared-memory GVT algorithm and prove its correctness. This algorithm does not require message acknowledgments, special GVT messages, or FIFO delivery of messages, and requires only a minimal number of shared variables and data structures. The algorithm only requires one round of interprocessor communication to compute GVT, in contrast to many message-based algorithms that require two. An efficient implementatin is described that eliminates the need for a processor to explicitly compute a local minimum for time warp systems using a lowest-timestamp-first scheduling policy in each processor.

In addition, we propose a new mechanism called on-the-fly fossil collection that enables efficient storage reclamation for simulations containing large numbers, e.g., hundreds of thousand or even millions of simulator objects. On-the-fly fossil collection can be used in time warp systems executing on either shared-memory or message-based machines. Performance measurements of the GVT algorithm and the on-the-fly fossil collection mechanism on a Kendall Square Research KSR-2 machine demonstrate that these techniques enable frequent GVT and fossil collections, e.g., every millisecond, without incurring a significant performance penalty

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Cited By

Fujimoto R(2024)Development of the parallel and distributed simulation fieldSIMULATION10.1177/00375497241261407100:12(1197-1223)Online publication date: 2-Dec-2024
https://doi.org/10.1177/00375497241261407
Montesano FMarotta RQuaglia F(2024)Spatial/Temporal Locality-Based Load-sharing in Speculative Discrete Event Simulation on Multi-core MachinesACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation10.1145/363970335:1(1-31)Online publication date: 25-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3639703
Montesano F(2024)Towards the Optimization of Memory and Data Management in Speculative PDES on Multi-Core MachinesProceedings of the 38th ACM SIGSIM Conference on Principles of Advanced Discrete Simulation10.1145/3615979.3662150(63-64)Online publication date: 24-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3615979.3662150
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Computing global virtual time in shared-memory multiprocessors

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Reviews

Reviewer: Domenico Talia

Design and implementation of algorithms to compute global virtual time (GVT) on shared-memory parallel computers is the topic of this paper. GVT is a mechanism that enables one to identify those computations and information that are not prone to future rollbacks for capturing a consistent snapshot of the state of a system. GVT algorithms are used in the Time Warp synchronization mechanism to perform irrevocable operations. GVT algorithms were originally defined for message-passing computers, but they also can be used on shared-memory machines. The authors present the design, implementation, and correctness proof of a shared-memory GVT algorithm that assumes a sequentially consistent memory model. They conclude that GVT computation is easier and more straightforward on shared-memory parallel computers than on message-passing machines. People working in distributed systems and parallel computation know that this is true for all the algorithms that imply synchronization and message acknowledgments among processes or processors. The main contribution of the paper seems to be related to the authors' ability to eliminate, in a nontrivial way, from the previous work on distributed GVT algorithms, those problems originating from the distributed nature of message-passing machines. In this way, they obtain a simpler algorithm that might be used efficiently on multiprocessors.

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Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation

ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation Volume 7, Issue 4

Oct. 1997

92 pages

ISSN:1049-3301

EISSN:1558-1195

DOI:10.1145/268403

Editor:
Richard E. Nance
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

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Copyright © 1997 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Publication History

Published: 01 October 1997

Published in TOMACS Volume 7, Issue 4

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https://doi.org/10.1177/00375497241261407
Montesano FMarotta RQuaglia F(2024)Spatial/Temporal Locality-Based Load-sharing in Speculative Discrete Event Simulation on Multi-core MachinesACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation10.1145/363970335:1(1-31)Online publication date: 25-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3639703
Montesano F(2024)Towards the Optimization of Memory and Data Management in Speculative PDES on Multi-Core MachinesProceedings of the 38th ACM SIGSIM Conference on Principles of Advanced Discrete Simulation10.1145/3615979.3662150(63-64)Online publication date: 24-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3615979.3662150
Piccione AAndelfinger PPellegrini A(2023)Hybrid Speculative Synchronisation for Parallel Discrete Event SimulationProceedings of the 2023 ACM SIGSIM Conference on Principles of Advanced Discrete Simulation10.1145/3573900.3591124(84-95)Online publication date: 21-Jun-2023
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Jefferson DBarnes P(2023)Virtual Time III, Part 1: Unified Virtual Time Synchronization for Parallel Discrete Event SimulationACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation10.1145/350524832:4(1-29)Online publication date: 11-Jan-2023
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Montesano F(2023)Towards the Optimization of Speculative PDES Platforms in Shared-Memory Multi-core MachinesMulti-Agent Systems10.1007/978-3-031-43264-4_38(500-506)Online publication date: 14-Sep-2023
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Parizotto RMello BHaque ISchaeffer-Filho A(2022)NetGVTProceedings of the Symposium on SDN Research10.1145/3563647.3563648(16-24)Online publication date: 19-Oct-2022
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