Parallel processing operating system software#
We also discuss some of the experiments that have been made both in hardware (DASH, Alewife) and in software systems (TreadMarks, Shasta) to deal with the scalability issues of maintaining consistency in shared-memory systems and to prove their applicability on a large-scale. The surviving commercial models with NORMA architectures are very expensive machines, which one will find running calculus intensive applications, such as weather forecasting or fluid dynamics modelling. These multicomputers with fast interconnects are the ideal hardware support for message passing parallel applications.
However, users who want to exploit parallel processing to the fullest use those same parallel programming languages on top of NORMA computers. Furthermore, the most popular parallel programming languages have been ported to SMP architectures enabling also the execution of demanding parallel applications on these machines. Users find it a very interesting model to have a computer, which, although it derives its processing power from a set of processors, does not require any changes to applications and only minor changes to the operating system. Parallel computing is the simultaneous execution of the same task, split into subtasks, on multiple processors in order to obtain results faster. Parallel operating systems are the interface between parallel computers (or computer systems) and the applications (parallel or not) that are executed on. In this chapter, we discuss the operating system components that are essential to support parallel systems and the central concepts surrounding their operation: scheduling, synchronization, multi-threading, inter-process communication, memory management and fault tolerance.Ĭurrently, SMP computers are the most widely used multiprocessors.
Additionally, there is some (mostly experimental) work done towards the exploitation of the shared memory paradigm on top of networks of workstations or personal computers.
Parallel processing operating system windows#
This diversity has since been reduced to a small set of dominating configurations: symmetric multiprocessors running commodity applications and operating systems (UNIX and Windows NT) and multicomputers running custom kernels and parallel applications. The administrator's challenge is to selectively deploy this technology to fully use its multiprocessing power. This chapter introduces parallel processing and parallel database technologies, which offer great advantages for online transaction processing and decision support applications. Great diversity marked the beginning of parallel architectures and their operating systems. Parallel Processing & Parallel Databases. They translate the hardware’s capabilities into concepts usable by programming languages.
Parallel operating systems are the interface between parallel computers (or computer systems) and the applications (parallel or not) that are executed on them. International Handbooks on Information Systems