On Synchronisation and Memory Reuse in OpenSHMEM

Abstract

OpenSHMEM is an open standard for PGAS libraries that provides one-sided communication semantics. Since the standardisation process was completed in 2012, the OpenSHMEM API has seen a rapid succession of proposed extensions. Among these extensions is the addition of teams of processing element (PEs) for greater flexibility in defining PE subsets for problem decomposition. Adding further to this, spaces introduced the ability to manage memory exclusive to teams without the need for global synchronisation. However, one problem still remains that affects the usability of teams, and that is the need for the user to manage memory used internally by the implementation for synchronisation in collective operations. This paper explores the possibilities for moving this responsibility from the user to the implementation, as well as the consequences that may arise as a result. To this end, we describe three methods of implementation and discuss the implications of their use compared to traditional user management of synchronisation buffers.

This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).