A buffering layer to support derived types and proprietary networks for Java HPC

Baker, M., Carpenter, B. and Shafi, A. (2007) A buffering layer to support derived types and proprietary networks for Java HPC. Scalable Computing: Practice and Experience, 8 (4). 343–358. ISSN 1895-1767

Abstract/Summary

MPJ Express is our implementation of MPI-like bindings for Java. In this paper we discuss our intermediate buffering layer that makes use of the so-called direct byte buffers introduced in the Java New I/O package. The purpose of this layer is to support the implementation of derived datatypes. MPJ Express is the first Java messaging library that implements this feature using pure Java. In addition, this buffering layer allows efficient implementation of communication devices based on proprietary networks such as Myrinet. In this paper we evaluate the performance of our buffering layer and demonstrate the usefulness of direct byte buffers. Also, we evaluate the performance of MPJ Express against other messaging systems using Myrinet and show that our buffering layer has made it possible to avoid the overheads suffered by other Java systems such as mpiJava that relies on the Java Native Interface.