Abstract
SCI is based on unidirectional point-to-point links forming ringlets that can be connected with switches to allow further scaling. This paper presents performance results from running on a number of differently configured SCI clusters. The SCI technology used is Dolphin's second generation PCI/SCI adapter based on the LC-2 LinkController chip as well as a new 4 port, LC-2 based switch. Nodes are UltraSparcs running Solaris 2.5.1 as the operating system. Results show latencies down to 2.9 Μsec for remote stores, and bandwidths up to 80 Mbytes/s into a single system. Network throughput of more than 270 Mbytes/s (8 node system) is demonstrated. Results indicate that the new LC-2 eliminates a number of problems with the earlier LC-1 chip in addition to increasing peak performance. With its flexible building blocks this technology should also make it possible to construct systems with a large number of nodes, pushing I/O adapter based SCI interconnects forward as a promising system area network technology.
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Omang, K. (1998). Performance of a cluster of PCI based ultrasparc workstations interconnected with SCI. In: Panda, D.K., Stunkel, C.B. (eds) Network-Based Parallel Computing Communication, Architecture, and Applications. CANPC 1998. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1362. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0052220
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0052220
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