256 research outputs found
FastFlow tutorial
FastFlow is a structured parallel programming framework targeting shared
memory multicores. Its layered design and the optimized implementation of the
communication mechanisms used to implement the FastFlow streaming networks
provided to the application programmer as algorithmic skeletons support the
development of efficient fine grain parallel applications. FastFlow is
available (open source) at SourceForge
(http://sourceforge.net/projects/mc-fastflow/). This work introduces FastFlow
programming techniques and points out the different ways used to parallelize
existing C/C++ code using FastFlow as a software accelerator. In short: this is
a kind of tutorial on FastFlow.Comment: 49 pages + cove
Autonomic management of multiple non-functional concerns in behavioural skeletons
We introduce and address the problem of concurrent autonomic management of
different non-functional concerns in parallel applications build as a
hierarchical composition of behavioural skeletons. We first define the problems
arising when multiple concerns are dealt with by independent managers, then we
propose a methodology supporting coordinated management, and finally we discuss
how autonomic management of multiple concerns may be implemented in a typical
use case. The paper concludes with an outline of the challenges involved in
realizing the proposed methodology on distributed target architectures such as
clusters and grids. Being based on the behavioural skeleton concept proposed in
the CoreGRID GCM, it is anticipated that the methodology will be readily
integrated into the current reference implementation of GCM based on Java
ProActive and running on top of major grid middleware systems.Comment: 20 pages + cover pag
Accelerating sequential programs using FastFlow and self-offloading
FastFlow is a programming environment specifically targeting cache-coherent
shared-memory multi-cores. FastFlow is implemented as a stack of C++ template
libraries built on top of lock-free (fence-free) synchronization mechanisms. In
this paper we present a further evolution of FastFlow enabling programmers to
offload part of their workload on a dynamically created software accelerator
running on unused CPUs. The offloaded function can be easily derived from
pre-existing sequential code. We emphasize in particular the effective
trade-off between human productivity and execution efficiency of the approach.Comment: 17 pages + cove
Management in distributed systems: a semi-formal approach
Abstract Formal tools can be used in a "semi-formal" way to support distributed program analysis and tuning. We show how ORC has been used to reverse engineer a skeleton based programming environment and to remove one of the skeleton system's recognized weak points. The semi-formal approach adopted allowed these steps to be performed in a programmer-friendly way
Elastic-PPQ: A two-level autonomic system for spatial preference query processing over dynamic data streams
Paradigms like Internet of Things and the most recent Internet of Everything are shifting the attention towards systems able to process unbounded sequences of items in the form of data streams. In the real world, data streams may be highly variable, exhibiting burstiness in the arrival rate and non-stationarities such as trends and cyclic behaviors. Furthermore, input items may be not ordered according to timestamps. This raises the complexity of stream processing systems, which must support elastic resource management and autonomic QoS control through sophisticated strategies and run-time mechanisms. In this paper we present Elastic-PPQ, a system for processing spatial preference queries over dynamic data streams. The key aspect of the system design is the existence of two adaptation levels handling workload variations at different time-scales. To address fast time-scale variations we design a fine regulatory mechanism of load balancing supported by a control-theoretic approach. The logic of the second adaptation level, targeting slower time-scale variations, is incorporated in a Fuzzy Logic Controller that makes scale in/out decisions of the system parallelism degree. The approach has been successfully evaluated under synthetic and real-world datasets
Mammut: High-level management of system knobs and sensors
Managing low-level architectural features for controlling performance and power consumption is a growing demand in the parallel computing community. Such features include, but are not limited to: energy profiling, platform topology analysis, CPU cores disabling and frequency scaling. However, these low-level mechanisms are usually managed by specific tools, without any interaction between each other, thus hampering their usability. More important, most existing tools can only be used through a command line interface and they do not provide any API. Moreover, in most cases, they only allow monitoring and managing the same machine on which the tools are used. MAMMUT provides and integrates architectural management utilities through a high-level and easy-to-use object-oriented interface. By using MAMMUT, is possible to link together different collected information and to exploit them on both local and remote systems, to build architecture-aware applications
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