MPC Project

ASIM team
LIP6 Laboratory
Paris, France

NEW (feb 2002) : the new MPC/MPI cluster of workstations :
16 proc. 1GHz, 8 Gb RAM, 1/3 To disk - Now available online !
This new cluster is specifically designed to run MPI jobs in a high parallel environment.
You can now launch your MPI jobs on our MPC machine. You can find more informations about this here (in french).

historical : the first MPC Parallel Machine that was available online
The MPC Parallel Computer of LIP6 laboratory was available online through a Job Management System.
You can now launch your PVM jobs on our MPC machine. You can find more informations about this here (in french).

What is MPC ?

MPC is a parallel computer. Our project goal is to design a high performance/low cost multiprocessor, using standard Pentium based PC-boards as nodes, Unix FreeBSD operating system, and a high speed communication network built on the gigabit-HSL (High Speed Link) IEEE-1355 technology.

Performances

PUT low level access driver (remote-write by means of DMA accross the network) :

available in gif and postscript format.

SLR/V (virtual communication channels) :

These results include the user-level call to this kernel protocol.

PVM :

TF/TF communications entre deux tâches filles distantes
TF/TF locales : communications entre deux tâches filles locales à un même noeud
TM/TF : communications entre la tâche maître et une tâche fille (via le démon et donc via Socket Unix)

Software installation

Click here to see some major informations about the software installation process.

Full description of MPC-OS (software components of MPC)

Click here to get the Ph.D Thesis manuscript of A. Fenyo : it contains a full description of the major software components relative to MPC.

Hardware Components

The high speed network is based on the RCube dynamic router, developed at UPMC/LIP6. RCube is a VLSI circuit implementing a 8x8 crossbar with interval labeling and wormhole routing. Each processor node is connected to a router by means of another dedicated chip, PCIDDC, implementing a Direct Deposit Protocol to provide inter-node DMA throw the PCI bus. A new programmable PCI interface chip, NOE, is under development.

Software Components

A stack of kernel protocols and monitoring daemons has been developed in cooperation with PRiSM and ENST laboratories, and integrated inside Unix FreeBSD to provide several communication layers for developpers. An optimized implementation of PVM on top of this stack is now available.

Web servers relative to MPC

Internet Parallel Computing Archive
IEEE 1355 association
MPC general overview web server
Workgroup on parallel computers (DEA SI)
«Grappes» workgroup (IRISA)
MPI, PVM

NEWS !

A video clip that introduces MPC is now available in MPEG-1 format !

Server design A. Fenyö
mpc@mpc.lip6.fr - contact people
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$Date: 1998/05/22 15:00:13 $