Heterogeneous Distributed Shared Memory on Wide Area Network

In this paper, we analyze the applicability of start-of-theart software DSM techniques for supporting a single shared address space in large, heterogeneous wide area network. The main contributions of this paper include following three aspects. First, based on the detail analysis, ten challenges related to implement single shared address space on heterogeneous, dynamic scenario are listed. Furthermore, for every challenges, we discuss the applicability of new techniques which are widely used in the homogeneous software DSM systems. Second, for two kind of typical applications, two hierarchical schemes, HSASLM for scientific applications and HSAS for information service applications, are proposed to implement heterogeneous distributed share memory system on wide area system. Finally, four key problems, such as coherent information maintenance, fault tolerance, resource discovery and join, and application adaptation, inherent in both HSASLM and HSAS scheme are analyzed and partial solutions are proposed too.