Experience with parallel computing on the AN2 network

Technology trends make it attractive to use workstations connected by a local area network as a multicomputing platform for parallel applications. Achieving acceptable application performance in such a workstation cluster using commodity components requires good support from system software and network hardware. This paper describes our experience with parallel programming in a workstation cluster and the implications for operating systems and network adaptor design. Our cluster consists entirely of commercially-available hardware: 24 Alpha workstations connected by a 155 Mbit/s AN2 ATM network. We present results from running several parallel applications on this cluster. Our cluster demonstrates both excellent low-level communication performance and good overall application performance that compares favorably with dedicated multicomputers like the IBM SP2.