Evaluating I/O Acceleration Mechanisms of SX-Aurora TSUBASA

Abstract

In a heterogeneous computing system, different kinds of processors might need to be involved in the execution of a file I/O operation. Since NEC SX-Aurora TSUBASA is one such system, two I/O acceleration mechanisms are offered to reduce the data transfer overheads among the processors for a file I/O operation. This paper first investigates the effects of the two mechanisms on the I/O performance of SX-Aurora TSUBASA. Considering the results, proper use of the two mechanisms is discussed via a real-world application of flood damage estimation. These results clearly demonstrate the demand for auto-tuning, i.e., adaptively selecting either of the two mechanisms with considering application behaviors and system configuration.