[Beowulf] new release of GAMMA: x86-64 + PRO/1000

[Giuseppe Ciaccio]

Hello,

I'm glad to announce that GAMMA has been ported to x86-64 CPU architecture :-)
This release of GAMMA has been tested on a GigEth cluster of dual-Xeon (32-bit)
as well as a cluster of single-EM64T (courtesy of OpenCFD, Ltd).  So, we lack
(and need!) tests on GigEth cluster of dual-processor x86-64 machines (we
have no such hardware on site).

A new, 64-bit capable, version of MPI/GAMMA has been released as well.

GAMMA only supports the Intel PRO/1000 Gigabit Ethernet NIC (e1000 driver).
Latency at MPI level is below 12 usec, switch included (6.5 usec back-to-back).
No significant difference between 32-bit and 64-bit.

More details at the GAMMA web page, http://www.disi.unige.it

Some tests on computational fluid dynamics jobs (courtesy of OpenCFD, Ltd)
show a very interesting comparison between MPI/GAMMA and LAM.  I will post
more details on the GAMMA web page soon.

A question:

Does it still make sense to have a low-latency communication library for
Gigabit Ethernet?

Bye,

Giuseppe Ciaccio               http://www.disi.unige.it/person/CiaccioG/
DISI - Universita' di Genova   via Dodecaneso 35   16146 Genova,   Italy
phone +39 10 353 6637          fax +39 010 3536699 ciaccio at disi.unige.it
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