Effective Computing with SMP Linux

Effective Computing with SMP Linux

Multi-processor systems were once a feature of high-end servers and mainframes, but today, even desktops for personal use have multiple processors. Linux is a popular server OS and is increasingly being accepted as a mainstream desktop OS. But how good is Linux at multi-processing?

The traditional Linux kernel was built for Uniprocessor (UP) systems, but it did not utilize the power offered by multi-processor systems. However, with the arrival of the Linux 2.6 kernel, this has changed drastically. The Linux 2.6 kernel adds many features to support symmetric multi-processing.

This paper will discuss the relevance of an SMP kernel for today’s computers, the changes in the Linux 2.6 kernel to support SMP and the benefits of an SMP Linux system. The paper will also explain how developers can take advantage of the SMP features of Linux to develop software that runs more efficiently.

Introduction

There are two ways to improve the processing power of a computer - first is to build a Uniprocessor (UP) system with a faster (and more expensive) processor and the second is to build a system with multiple processors. The second approach is generally referred to as parallel processing. There are different approaches for building a parallel processing system such as Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP), Cluster Computing and Massively Parallel Processing (MPP).

Overview

This paper focuses on the most common approach to parallel processing today - Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) using Linux as a reference implementation. Firstly, the paper presents the benefits of an SMP system over a UP system. After establishing the relevance of an SMP system, the paper then delves further into the implementation challenges of an SMP kernel as compared to a UP kernel and how the Linux 2.6 kernel addresses these challenges. The discussion is oriented more towards the software design than the hardware architecture. However, hardware features are also briefly mentioned when appropriate.

Finally, application development on an SMP Linux system is discussed with specific focus on performance improvement by harnessing the parallel processing features of an SMP kernel. The paper concludes that an SMP Linux system is one of the best platforms available today for delivering low-cost, high-performance software solutions.

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