About PVM - Parallel Virtual Machine

PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine) is a portable message-passing programming system, designed to link separate heterogeneous host machines to form a "virtual machine" which is a single, manageable parallel computing resource. Large computational problems can thus be solved more cost effectively by using the aggregate power and memory of many computers.

Classical parallel computers comprise a collection of processors, each connected by a fast bus to the others, and possibly to a segment of memory. The "virtual machine" described by PVM is a collection of processors (inside the individual computers), connected by a network. Each processor has access to the local memory on the computer in which it resides, and may also have access to a shared memory area for the network. PVM does not require the machines that constitute it to be identical. Indeed, they do not even have to run the same operating system. Thus, PVM provides a very flexible framework in which to run parallel computations on an arbitrary number of heterogeneous processors.

User programs are provided access to PVM through the use of calls to PVM library routines for functions such as process initiation, message transmission and reception, and synchronization via barriers or rendezvous. Users may optionally control the execution location of specific application components. The PVM system transparently handles message routing, data conversion for incompatible architectures, and other tasks that are necessary for operation in a heterogeneous, network environment.

PVM is particularly effective for heterogeneous applications that exploit specific strengths of individual machines on a network. As a loosely coupled concurrent supercomputer environment, PVM is a viable scientific computing platform. The PVM system has been used for applications such as molecular dynamics simulations, superconductivity studies, distributed fractal computations, matrix algorithms, and in the classroom as the basis for teaching concurrent computing.

PVM enables users to exploit their existing computer hardware to solve much larger problems at minimal additional cost. With tens of thousands of users, PVM has become the de facto standard for distributed computing worldwide.

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