Overcoming the Problems Associated with the Existence of Too many DSM APIs

Despite the large research efforts in the SW–DSM community, this technology has not yet been adapted widely for significant codes beyond benchmark suites. One of the reasons contributing to this is the existence of a large variety of different, incompatible systems and APIs, which severely restricts portability. This work therefore proposes a DSM framework, called HAMSTER, which allows the low complex implementation of basically arbitrary DSM APIs on top of a single core and thereby enables the easy retargeting of the system to specific application needs. This flexibility is achieved by offering a comprehensive set of shared memory services grouped into orthogonal modules. Combined, they offer a comprehensive interface capable of supporting the different requirements of the various DSM APIs.