The implications of cache affinity on processor scheduling for multiprogrammed, shared memory multiprocessors

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Abstract
In a shared memory multiprocessor with caches, executing tasks develop "affinity" to processors by filling their caches with data and instructions during execution. A scheduling policy that ignores this affinity may waste processing power by causing excessive cache refilling.Our work focuses on quantifying the effect of processor reallocation on the performance of various parallel applications multiprogrammed on a shared memory multiprocessor, and on evaluating how the magnitude of this cost affects the choice of scheduling policy.We first identify the components of application response time, including processor reallocation costs. Next, we measure the impact of reallocation on the cache behavior of several parallel applications executing on a Sequent Symmetry multiprocessor. We also measure, the performance of these applications under a number of alternative allocation policies. These experiments lead us to conclude that on current machines processor affinity has only a very weak influence on the choice of scheduling discipline, and that the benefits of frequent processor reallocation (in response to the changing parallelism of jobs) outweigh the penalties imposed by such reallocation. Finally, we use this experimental data to parameterize a simple analytic model, allowing us to evaluate the effect of processor affinity on future machines, those containing faster processors and larger caches.

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