Paper Citing NAMD - Abstract
Brunner, R.K.; Kale, L.V.
Handling application-induced load imbalance using parallel objects
PARALLEL AND DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING FOR SYMBOLIC AND IRREGULAR APPLICATIONS, 167-181, 2000
One of the problems in applying parallel computing for a broad class of applications arises from the dynamic nature of computations being parallelized. Even if the computation is carefully load-balanced at the beginning, the balance deteriorates over time, either due to adaptive refinements, or gradual change in the load of different components. Such imbalances can have a dramatic effect on performance, especially when a large number of processors are used, and are not easily handled by common programming models. We present a methodology based on data-driven objects that can automatically handle such application-induced load imbalances and rebalance the load as needed. The methodology relies on automatic instrumentation to record load and communication patterns, and a flexible load-balancing framework that facilitates development of different strategies that may be appropriate for different classes of applications.
