Some easy questions

plinius · ‎02-14-2005

Hi,
I'm beginning to try to write some distributed programs, and I have some basic questionson the Intel MPI library.

(1)Can you use the intel MPI library without the use of a middleware ? (when you use MPICH2, for example, you have to run your programs through mpiexec.exe, a middleware)
(2)Is the entire MPI-2 standart implemented in the intel MPI library ?
(3)Can you make Windows compatible programs with it?
(4)What are the advantages of Intel's MPI library over (free) ones like mpich2, ... .

Thanks in advance.

Plinius

Henry_G_Intel · ‎02-22-2005

Hi Plinius,

You're right. These are easy questions.

Programs that use the Intel MPI Library must be started with mpiexec or mpirun.
Intel MPI Library 1.0 has all MPI-2 features except dynamic process spawning and passive one-side communication. We expect to have full MPI-2 support in the 2.0 release.
Intel MPI does not currently support Windows.
The main advantage of Intel MPI is fabric independence. You can build a single executable that supportsmultiple network interconnects. There's also the advantage of commercial support.

More complete product info is available here: http://www.intel.com/software/products/cluster/mpi/

Best regards,

Henry

plinius · ‎02-22-2005

OK.
Thanks a lot.
Do you also happen to know a windows-alternative for tracecollect ?
(maybe it's not the right place to ask it...).

ClayB · ‎03-16-2005

Plinius -

To have a Windows version of Trace Collector you would need a Windows version of MPI. As henry pointed out, the INtel MPI Library does not currently run on Windows. There is one commercial version of and MPI implementation that is designed to run on Windows (MPISoft, I believe). The folks that brought you MPICH have a Windows version of their library, too. I've not used this, but I do know that the Linux versions of MPICH have come with the jumpshot utility that does performance measurements or MPI execution. There is a GUI that goes along with this for viewing profiling data collected. If this is included in the MPICH for Windows, it could be what you're looking for.

We're seeing more interest in Windows-based clusters lately. I would not be surprised to find more and more MPI implementations and tools crossing over as that market begins to grow.

-- clay

plinius · ‎03-17-2005

Thanks, but my question got solved on March 2, 2005 ->the release of mpich2 v1.01 (which was the first version with jumpshot supp. for windows of mpich2...).

Grtz