A hierarchical approach to workload characterization for parallel systems

Performance evaluation studies are to be an integral part of the design and tuning of parallel applications. We propose a hierarchical approach to the systematic characterization of the workload of a parallel system, to be kept as modular and exible as possible. The methodology is based on three di erent, but related, layers: the application, the algorithm, and the routine layer. For each of these layers di erent characteristics representing functional, sequential, parallel, and quantitative descriptions have been identi ed. These characteristics are speci ed in a system independent way to clearly separate between the workload description and the architecture description. Taking also architectural and mapping features into consideration, the hierarchical workload characterization can be applied to any type of performance studies.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1995
• Where: HPCN
• Authors: Maria Calzarossa, Alessandro P. Merlo, Daniele Tessera, Günter Haring, Gabriele Kotsis
• Keywords: Distributed And Parallel Computing, Hierarchical Workload Characterization, HPCN 1995, Performance Evaluation Studies, Workload