NHSE Software Catalog

AIMS - An Automated Instrumentation and Monitoring System

url

http://www.nas.nasa.gov/NAS/Tools/Projects/AIMS/

abstract

AIMS is a software toolkit that facilitates performance evaluation
of parallel applications on multiprocessors.
It includes
1. xinstrument: a source-code instrumentor that supports Fortran77
and C message-passing programs written under two
communication libraries: MPI and PVM.
2. monitor: a library of timestamping and trace-collection routines
that run on the IBM SP-2, as well as networks of workstations
(including Convex/HP Cluster, SparcStations, SGIs, and
SGI/PowerChallenge connected by a LAN).
3. pc: a utility for removing monitoring overhead and its effects on the
communication patterns as recorded on the tracefile.
4. Visualization/Analysis Toolkit: a tracefile animation and analysis
toolkit: The tracefile contains event records of the program
execution. After execution, it is collected and transferred to a
graphics workstation where it can be analyzed and displayed by
AIMS' visualization toolkits. AIMS provides four trace
post-processing kernels to support, respectively,
visualization/animation, text-based profiling, hierarchical
performance tuning, and performance prediction.
5. atopg: a suite of compatibility tools that convert AIMS-generated
traces into formats used by other performance-visualization tools,
such as Pablo, ParaGraph, and certain AVS/Explorer modules.
AIMS can be used to illustrate algorithm behavior, help analyze program
execution and highlight problem areas that can then be modified to
improve program execution.

contact

yan@nas.nasa.gov

keywords

performance analysis; performance visualization

environment

Currently, AIMS accepts FORTRAN and C parallel programs written using
two message passing libraries: MPI and PVM.
The platforms currently supported include the IBM SP2
and clusters of workstations such as sunSparcs, SGI,
SGI/PowerChallenge and HP). Earlier versions supporting CMMD on TMC's
CM-5, NX on Intel's Paragon are no longer supported but the source code can be
made available through special arrangement. A version of AIMS supporting HPF is
being developed in conjunction with Portland Group.