The Isotach Messaging Layer: Ironman Design

In traditional parallel and/or distributed systems, synchronization among nodes requires relatively expensive mechanisms such as locks and barriers. An Isotach network inexpensively provides strong guarantees regarding message delivery order, thus allowing for sequential consistency and atomicity at a much lower cost. <P> The previous implementation of Isotach was built upon a third-party messaging layer, which resulted in unnecessary overhead and complications. This paper describes a complete design and implementation of a new messaging layer to support Isotach in a Linux/Myrinet network environment. The new system is fully integrated with previously designed Isotach custom hardware devices.

Lack, Michael, Perry Myers, Paul Reynolds, and Craig Williams. "The Isotach Messaging Layer: Ironman Design." University of Virginia Dept. of Computer Science Tech Report (2000).