SIMPLE: a performance evaluation tool environment for parallel and distributed systems

Abstract

. This paper describes SIMPLE: a performance evaluation tool environment for parallel and distributed systems based on monitoring of concurrent interdependent activities. We emphasize the tool environment as a prerequisite for successful performance evaluation. All tools use the data access interface TDL/POET which can decode measured data of arbitrary structure, format and representation. This makes the evaluation independent of the monitor device(s) used and the system monitored. It also provides a problem-oriented way of accessing the data. Therefore it is very easy to adapt SIMPLE to any kind of measured data and to understand the evaluation results. 1. Introduction The characteristic feature of parallel and distributed computer systems is that they share load and common resources among several processing nodes in order to increase performance and reliability of the overall system. Understanding the how and why of an achieved performance in an existing system is a must for tuning..