Murks – A POSIX Threads Based DSM System

The shared memory paradigm provides an easy to use programming model for communicating processes. Its implementation in distributed environments has proofed to be harder than expected. Most distributed shared memory (DSM) systems suffer from either poor performance or they are very complicated to use. The DSM system Murks, presented in this paper, is the result of the sobering experiences we made by trying to integrate an existing DSM system into a distributed OS. Murks distinctive features are 1) full support for POSIX multithreading instead of an own proprietary threadpackage and 2) it does not burden the programmer with additional, difficult to use, memory management services. These advantages are achieved by a tight integration of the DSM subsystem into the OS. By this, Murks is able to provide a better combination of performance and ease-of-use than other DSM systems.