Optimized Multiprocessor Communication and Synchronization Using a Programmable Protocol Engine

In recent years, multiprocessor designs have converged towards a unified hardware architecture despite supporting different communication abstractions. The implementation of these communication abstractions and the associated protocols in hardware is complex, inflexible, and error prone. For these reasons, some recent designs have employed a programmable controller to manage system communication. One particular focus of these designs is implementing cache coherence protocols in software. This dissertation argues that a programmable communication controller that provides cache coherence can also effectively support block transfer and synchronization protocols. This research is part of the FLASH project, a major focus of which is exploring the integration of multiple communication protocols in a single multiprocessor architecture. In our analysis, we examine the needs of protocols other than cache coherence to identify the requirements they share. The interface between the processor and controller is one critical issue in these protocols, so we propose techniques to export such protocols reliably, at low overhead, and without system calls. Unlike most prior studies, our approach supports a modern operating system with features like multiprogramming, protection, and virtual memory. Our study focuses in detail on two classes of communication that are important for large scale multiprocessors: block transfer and synchronization using locks and barriers. In particular, we attempt to improve the performance of these classes of communication as compared to implementations using only software on top of shared memory. For each protocol we identify the critical metrics of performance, explore the limitations of existing techniques, then present our implementation, which is tailored to leverage the programmable communication controller. We evaluate each protocol in isolation, in the context of microbenchmarks, and within a variety of applications. We find that embedding advanced communication and synchronization features in a programmable controller has a number of advantages. For example, the block transfer protocol improves transfer performance in some cases, enables the processor to perform other work in parallel, and