CSC/ECE 506 Spring 2012/10a dr

Prefetching and consistency models

Introduction

In

Prefetching

Sequential prefetching is a simple hardware controlled pre fetching technique which relies on the automatic prefetch of consecutive blocks following the block that misses in the cache, thus exploiting spatial locality. In its simplest for, the number of prefetched blocks on each miss is fixed throughout the execution<ref>http://129.16.20.23/~pers/pub/j5.pdf</ref>.

Prefetching is a common technique to reduce the read miss penalty. Prefetching relies on predicting which blocks currently missing in the cache will be read in the future and on bringing these blocks into the cache prior to the reference triggering the miss. Prefetching approaches proposed in the literature are software or hardware based.

Software controlled prefetching schemes rely on the programmer/compiler to insert prefetch instructions prior to the instructions that trigger a miss. In addition, both the processor and the memory system must be able to support prefetch instructions which can potentially increase the code size and the run-time overhead. By contrast, hardware-controlled prefetch relieve the programmer/compiler from the burden of deciding what and when to prefetch. Usually, these schemes take advantage of the regularity of data access in scientific computations by dynamically detecting access strides.

Basically there are two types of prefetching techniques

1. Fixed sequential prefetching

2. Adaptive sequential prefetching

More details about these is discussed in the following sections:

Simulated processing Node Architecture

Processor environment and simulated architecture

C

If k

The fixed sequential prefetching mechanism

D

PrefetchBit (per Cache Line)	Used to detect useful prefetches (needed when prefetching is tumed on.)
ZeroBit (per cache line)	Used to detect when a prefetch would have been useful (needed when prefetching is turned off.)
LookaheadCounter (per cache)	The current degree of prefetching (per cache)
PrefetchCounter (per cache)	Counts the number of prefetches that have been I returned after each read miss
UsefulCounter (per cache)	Counts the number of useful prefetches

Consistency models <ref>http://titanium.cs.berkeley.edu/papers/kamil-su-yelick-sc05.pdf</ref> <ref>http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/Compaq-DEC/WRL-95-7.pdf</ref>

The interface for memory in a shared memory multiprocessor is called a memory consistency model. As the interface between the programmer and the system, the effect of the memory consistency model is pervasive in a shared memory system. The model affects programmability because programmers must use it to reason about the correctness of their programs. The model affects the performance of the system because it determines the types of optimizations that may be exploited by the hardware and the system software. Finally, due to a lack of consensus on a single model, portability can be affected when moving software across systems supporting different models.

A memory consistency model specification is required for every level at which an interface is defined between the programmer and the system. At the machine code interface, the memory model specification affects the designer of the machine hardware and the programmer who writes or reasons about machine code. At the high level language interface, the specification affects the programmers who use the high level language and the designers of both the software that converts high-level language code into machine code and the hardware that executes this code. Therefore, the programmability, performance, and portability concerns may be present at several different levels.

In summary, the memory model influences the writing of parallel programs from the programmer’s perspective, and virtually all aspects of designing a parallel system (including the processor, memory system, interconnection network, compiler, and programming languages) from a system designer’s perspective.

The memory consistency model in shared memory parallel programming controls the order in which memory operations performed by one thread may be observed by another. Consistency models are used in distributed systems like distributed shared memory systems or distributed data stores (such as a filesystems, databases, optimistic replication systems or Web caching). The system supports a given model, if operations on memory follow specific rules. The data consistency model specifies a contract between programmer and system, wherein the system guarantees that if the programmer follows the rules, memory will be consistent and the results of memory operations will be predictable.

Sequential Consistency Model (SC) <ref>A Primer on Memory Consistency and Cache Coherence. - Daniel J. Sorin, Mark D. Hill, and David A. Wood</ref>

Figure 3.1. Sequential Consistency Example

Arguably the most intuitive memory consistency model is sequential consistency (SC). Sequential consistency was first formalized by Lamport. Lamport first called a single processor (core) sequential if “the result of an execution is the same as if the operations had been executed in the order specified by the program.” He then called a multiprocessor sequentially consistent if “the result of any execution is the same as if the operations of all processors (cores) were executed in some sequential order, and the operations of each individual processor (core) appear in this sequence in the order specified by its program.” This total order of operations is called memory order. In SC, memory order respects each core’s program order, but other consistency models may permit memory orders that do not always respect the program orders.

An easy way to enforce sequential consistency is to insert memory fences after each shared memory access. This forbids all reordering of shared memory operations, which prevents optimizations such as prefetching and code motion, resulting in an unacceptable performance penalty. Various techniques have been proposed to minimize the number of fences, or delay set, required to enforce sequential consistency

Sequential Consistency Example:

  From figure 3.1, P2 does not see P1’s write of z = 5 before its first read of z, so it happens to have an out-of-date value.
  However, the write propagates to P2 before its second read of z. 
  This is legal under SC because, 
     -> Processors do not always have to see up-to-date values
     -> Processors just need to see writes in the order they happen
  Note: it would also have been legal under SC for W(z) 1 to propagate to P2 before its first read of z or after its second read of z.
  Pictorial representation in figure 3.2

Figure 3.2. Sequential Consistency Example (a) P1 writes z = 5. Then this updated value is sent over the interconnection network to the other processors. (b) P1 writes z = 5. Then this updated value is sent over the interconnection network to the other processors. (c) By the time P2 reads x the second time, the remote write by P1 has propagated through the interconnection network.

Sufficient Conditions for Preserving Sequential Consistency <ref>Parallel Computer Architecture: A Hardware/Software Approach. - David E. Culler, University of California, Berkeley; Jaswinder Pal Singh, Princeton University</ref>

It is possible to define a set of sufficient conditions that the system should obey that will guarantee sequential consistency in a multiprocessor—whether bus-based or distributed, cache-coherent or not. The following set, adapted from their original form, are commonly used because they are relatively simple without being overly restrictive:

• Every process issues memory requests in the order specified by the program.
• After a write operation is issued, the issuing process waits for the write to complete before issuing its next operation.
• After a read operation is issued, the issuing process waits for the read to complete, and for the write whose value is being returned by the read to complete, before issuing its next operation. That is, if the write whose value is being returned has performed with respect to this processor (as it must have if its value is being returned) then the processor should wait until the write has performed with respect to all processors.

Relaxed Consistency Models

So

Conclusion

H

Using

I

Even

External links

1. Sequential hardware prefetching in shared-memory multiprocessors

2. Making Sequential Consistency Practical in Titanium

References

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