An Integrated Shared Memory / Message Passing Api for Cluster-based Multicomputing

This paper is concerned with the choice of the appropriate programming model for clusters of symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) machines. Software vendors who wish to take advantage of cluster-based multiprocessing can either support message passing, hardware shared memory, or shared memory on top of a DSM runtime system. Software vendors entering the marketplace are similarly faced with the difficult choice between a well-supported message passing standard (MPI) and an emerging shared memory standard (OpenMP) that offers convenience and the promise of performance.