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SGI Varsity Update 1998 August
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Chapter 1. Introduction
This document provides an overview of the Cray Message Passing Toolkit and
Message Passing Toolkit for IRIX (MPT) 1.2.1 release. Except where
specifically stated, this overview also applies to the MPT 1.2 release. MPT
is a software package that supports parallel programming across a network of
computer systems through a technique known as message passing. This style of
parallel programming is an explicit method in which the application
specifically requests that data be sent from one task to another or between
groups of tasks. MPT also provides support for shared parallel programming
within a computer system through a technique known as data passing.
The MPT 1.2.1 release is supported on the following platforms:
* Cray PVP systems running UNICOS release 9.0.2.7 or later or UNICOS
release 10.0 or later. The MPT 1.2.1 release requires a bugfix package
to be installed on UNICOS systems running release 9.0.2.7 or 10.0. The
bugfix package, MPT12_OS_FIXES, is available through the getfix
utility. It is also available from the anonymous FTP site ftp.cray.com
in directory /pub/mpt/fixes/MPT12_OS_FIXES.
MPT 1.2.1 is not supported on systems running UNICOS release 9.3 or
9.3.0.1.
* CRAY T3E systems running UNICOS/mk release 1.5 or later.
* Silicon Graphics MIPS based systems running IRIX release 6.2 or later.
IRIX 6.2 systems running PVM require the POSIX patch set and any
patches recommended by the patch set.
IRIX 6.2 systems running MPI require the kernel rollup patch 1650 or
later.
IRIX 6.3 systems running MPI require the kernel rollup patch 2328 or
later.
IRIX systems running MPI applications must also be running Array Services
software version 3.0 or later.
IRIX systems using the Miser feature must be running IRIX 6.5 or later and
Array Services version 3.1 or later.
MPI jobs that use the checkpoint and restart feature require IRIX 6.4 plus
kernel patch 2839 and CPR patch 2689, or IRIX 6.5. In addition, CPR patch
3017 fixes IRIX 6.4 and IRIX 6.5 problems that exist with the ash (array
session handler) option of the cpr command. Array Services 3.1 or later is
also required for this feature.
These release notes include information about the following:
* New features
* Compatibilities and differences
* Documentation
* Customer services
* Release package contents
The remainder of this chapter discusses the following topics:
* MPT components
* MPT software
* Product description
* Distribution of these release notes
* Reader comments
1.1 MPT Components
The MPT 1.2.1 package contains the following components and accompanying
documentation:
* Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM)
* Message Passing Interface (MPI)
* Logically shared, distributed memory (SHMEM) data-passing routines
The PVM and MPI components of MPT are based on industry standards for the
message-passing programming model. These components also contain
enhancements specific to Silicon Graphics and Cray Research systems. For a
description of MPI, see the Message Passing Toolkit: MPI Programmer's
Manual, publication SR-2197. For a description of PVM, see the Message
Passing Toolkit: PVM Programmer's Manual, publication SR-2196.
The SHMEM library is packaged with MPT on UNICOS and IRIX systems only. On
UNICOS/mk systems, the SHMEM library is delivered with the CrayLibs package.
SHMEM man pages are printed in the Application Programmer's Library
Reference Manual, publication SR-2165.
1.2 MPT Software
For UNICOS and UNICOS/mk systems, software included in MPT was designed to
be used with the Cray Programming Environment 3.0 release or later. The
Modules software package is used to support the installation of both the
Programming Environment and MPT. To use the MPT software, load the mpt
module in addition to loading the Programming Environment module. For
information on using modules, see Installing Programming Environment
Products, publication SG-5191, or, if the Programming Environment has
already been installed on your system, see the online ASCII file
/opt/ctl/doc/README. After you have initialized the modules, enter the
following command to access the MPT software:
module load mpt
To unload the mpt module, enter the following command:
module unload mpt
For IRIX systems, MPT software can be installed in an alternate location for
use with the modules software package. If MPT software has been installed on
your system for use with modules, you can access the software with the
module command shown in the previous example. If MPT has not been installed
for use with modules, the software resides in default locations on your
system (/usr/include, /usr/lib, /usr/array/PVM, and so on), as in previous
releases. For further information, see Installing MPT for Use with Modules,
in the relnotes for modules.
1.3 Product Description
The MPT package contains the following subcomponents:
* An optimized version of Message Passing Interface (MPI) for IRIX
systems, UNICOS systems, and UNICOS/mk systems. This version is based
on the MPI 1.2 specification from the Message Passing Interface Forum.
It supports high-speed communications among the processors on each
system. It also supports high-speed communications between UNICOS
systems of like architecture, and between IRIX systems running IRIX 6.2
or later.
* An optimized version of Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) for IRIX
systems, UNICOS systems, and UNICOS/mk systems. This version is based
on Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL) version 3.3.10. It supports
high-speed communications among the processors on each system. It also
supports high-speed communications between heterogeneous systems.
* Logically shared, distributed memory (SHMEM) data-passing capability
using the shmem_get(3) and shmem_put(3) functions on IRIX systems and
UNICOS systems. (SHMEM on UNICOS/mk systems is delivered with
CrayLibs.) This high-performance library supports communications among
the processors on each system. For more information, see the
intro_shmem(3) man page.
MPI is a standard specification for message-passing libraries, allowing
portable message-passing programs in the Fortran and C languages. MPI was
created by the Message Passing Interface Forum (MPIF). MPIF is not
sanctioned or supported by any official standards organization. Its goal was
to develop a widely used standard for writing message-passing programs. The
implementation of this standard includes a library (libmpi.a for UNICOS and
UNICOS/mk systems and libmpi.so for IRIX systems), a run-time command
(mpirun(1)), and a library that allows profiling of message-passing
applications (libpmpi.a for UNICOS and UNICOS/mk systems and libpmpi.so for
IRIX systems). On UNICOS and IRIX systems, additional commands and libraries
are available to help you with debugging.
PVM is a software project that was developed jointly by Oak Ridge National
Laboratories (ORNL), the University of Tennessee, and Emory University. PVM
consists of a main library, a user-level daemon (pvmd3(1)), a console
(pvm(1)), and some additional commands and libraries. The main PVM library
name differs depending on the platform.
On IRIX systems, the PVM library name is libpvm3.so (formerly, libpvm.so).
An additional library, named libpvm3-i8.so (formerly, libpvm-i8.so), has
Fortran INTEGER*8 interfaces so that 64-bit integers can be used. Symbolic
links from libpvm.so to libpvm3.so and from libpvm-i8.so to libpvm3-i8.so
are provided with this release for compatibility. The links will be removed
in a future version of MPT.
On UNICOS and UNICOS/mk systems, the PVM library is named libpvm3.a.
The PVM and MPI libraries provide communications and synchronization
functions that are necessary for writing distributed applications. For
example, you can add calls that cause one task to send a message to another,
or to receive a message, or to wait until another task is finished. The PVM
software supports heterogeneous systems by automatically converting data.
The MPI software is supported between UNICOS systems of the same
architecture and within a partition on UNICOS/mk systems. This software also
supports communication across all machines running IRIX 6.2 or later.
SHMEM data passing is another form of distributed programming. It differs
from PVM and MPI message passing in that it uses one-sided communication
(that is, one processing element (PE) can send or receive data from another
PE without the knowledge of that PE).
To use PVM, MPI, or SHMEM data passing directly, you must change your source
code to add the appropriate calls.
The CRAY T3D versions of PVM and SHMEM data passing are part of the Cray
Fortran and Cray Standard C Programming Environment releases. MPT does not
include these implementations, but does include Cray PVP support that you
need when using PVM to distribute applications that run partly on CRAY T3D
systems. MPI support for CRAY T3D systems is provided through a third-party
product available from Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC). On CRAY
T3E systems, PVM and MPI are part of MPT, and SHMEM is part of the
Programming Environment.
1.4 Distribution of These Release Notes
You can access these release notes electronically, as follows:
* On IRIX systems, after you have installed the online release notes (the
relnotes subsystem), you can view the release notes on your screen.
o If you have a graphics system, select Release Notes from the Help
submenu of the Toolchest. This invokes the grelnotes graphical
browser for the online release notes. For options to this command,
see the grelnotes(1) man page.
o If you do not have a graphics system, you can use the relnotes(1)
command to access the online release notes.
* ASCII and PostScript files are also available on the following systems:
o Cray Research CRInform system, which is an online information and
problem-reporting system for Cray Research customers. For more
information on CRInform, see Section 5.5.
o Cray Research craypark system (formerly the hydra system) in the
/home/craypark/release_docs directory. The craypark system is
available only to Cray Research service personnel.
1.5 Reader Comments
If you have comments about the technical accuracy, content, or organization
of this document, please tell us. You can contact us in any of the following
ways:
* Send us electronic mail from any system connected to the Internet,
using the following Internet address:
techpubs@sgi.com
* Contact your customer service representative and ask that a Software
Problem Report (SPR) or a PV be filed. If filing an SPR, use
PUBLICATIONS for the group name, PUBS for the command, and NO-LICENSE
for the release name.
* Call our Software Publications Group in Eagan, Minnesota, through the
Customer Service Call Center, using either of the following numbers:
o 1-800-950-2729 (toll free from the United States and Canada)
o +1-612-683-5600
* Send a facsimile of your comments to the attention of "Software
Publications Group" in Eagan, Minnesota, at fax number +1-612-683-5599.
We value your comments and will respond to them promptly.
COPYRIGHT(c) 1998 Cray Research, Inc.