(De-)clustering objects for multiprocessor system software

Designing system software for large scale shared memory multiprocessors is challenging because of the level of performance demanded by the application workload and the distributed nature of the system. Adopting an object oriented approach for our system, we have developed a framework for de clustering objects, where each object may migrate, replicate, and distribute all or part of its data across the system memory using the policies that will best meet the locality requirements for that data. The mechanism for object invocation hides the internal structure of an object, allowing a request to be made directly to the most suitable part of the object on a per processor basis without any knowledge of how the object is de clustered. Method invocation is very efficient, both within and across address spaces, involving no remote memory accesses in the common case. We describe the design and implementation of this framework in Tornado, our multiprocessor operating system