Algorithms and Tools for (Distributed) Heterogeneous Computing

Yves Robert, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France

We discuss algorithms and tools to help program and use metacomputing resources in the forthcoming years. Metacomputing with highly distributed heterogeneous environments stands to become a major, if not dominant, method to implement all kinds of parallel applications.

In this talk, we briefly survey some general aspects of metacomputing: hardware, system and administration issues, as well as the application field. Next we identify some algorithmic issues and software challenges that must be solved to efficiently program and/or transparently use such platforms:

Data decomposition techniques for cluster computing,
Granularity issues for metacomputing,
Scheduling and load-balancing methods,
Programming models.

We illustrate each of these issues and challenges by the analysis of several case studies:
Cluster ScaLAPACK, AppLeS, Globus, Legion, Albatross and Netsolve.
We conclude this talk by stating some final remarks and recommendations.