Fast reductions on a network of workstations

Reduction operations are very useful in parallel and distributed computing, with applications in barrier synchronization, distributed snapshots, termination detection, global virtual time computation, etc. In the context of parallel discrete event simulations, we have previously introduced a class of adaptive synchronization algorithms based on fast reductions. We explore the implementation of fast reductions on a popular high performance computing platform-a network of workstations. The specific platform is a set of Pentium Pro PC´s running the Linux operating system interconnected by Myrinet-a Gbps network. The general reduction model on which our synchronization algorithms are based is introduced first, followed by a description of how this model can be implemented. We discuss several design trade offs that must be made in order to achieve the driving goal of high speed reductions and provide innovative algorithms to meet the correctness and performance requirements of the reduction model