Multicore (Oxford)

Workshop 9th September 2010 6 a.m. NAG (Numerical Algorithms Group) Oxford, UK

Web page: http://www.hector.ac.uk/cse/training/
Categories: Iridis, OpenMP, Scientific Computing
Submitter: Petrina Butler

Multicore processors are the current technological solution that keeps the CPU computational performance growing while satisfying the power and the cooling constrains imposed on high performance computing systems.

Moving with this trend HECToR is being upgraded from quadcore AMD Barcelona processors to 12 core AMD Opteron Magny-Cours processors. Two of these new processors form a shared memory node.

Harnessing the high performance of the multicore CPU is not straightforward in many cases as the memory latency and bandwidth contention problems are exacerbated with the increase of the number of cores per CPU.

As solutions to these problems in this course we shall present the mixed mode OpenMP/MPI as a programming paradigm and the use of System V shared memory segments. The theoretical presentations will be supported by practical hands on sessions and attendees will also have the opportunity to discuss their own applications with HECToR CSE staff.

The specific issues regarding compiling and profiling for multicore processors will be addressed in the Debugging, Profiling and Optimising course.

Aimed at

Programmers aiming their code at HECToR and similar multicore based system.

Prerequisites

Please note that this course does not teach a computer programming language. A good working knowledge of a scientific programming language (either Fortran- 95/2003 or C) is a pre-requisite. Students will also be assumed to be familiar with the computational environment found on HECToR, and to have knowledge of basic Linux commands, text editors, and compilation of scientific code in a command-line environment.

Duration

1 day

After Course

Attendees will understand the implications of multi-core processors, and be able to exploit their performance.

Registration

To register for HECToR courses go to the booking form.

These HPC training courses are provided free of charge to HECToR users and UK academics whose work is covered by the remit of one of the participating research councils (EPSRC, NERC and BBSRC). Other people may attend on payment of a course fee; please contact NAG for more details. If a course is over-subscribed then priority will be given to HECToR users, although NAG will do its best to re-run the course on another date to ensure that everybody who wants to can attend.