In this paper, we present a comprehensiveperformance evaluation of three high speedcluster interconnects: InfiniBand, Myrinetand Quadrics.We propose a set of micro-benchmarksto characterize different performance aspectsof these interconnects. Our micro-benchmarksuite includes not only traditional tests andperformance parameters, but also those specificallytailored to the interconnects' advancedfeatures such as user-level access for performingcommunication and remote direct memory access.In order to explore the full communicationcapability of the interconnects,we have implemented the micro-benchmark suiteat the low level messaging layer provided byeach interconnect. Our performance results showthat all three interconnects achieve low latency,high bandwidth and low host overhead.However, they show quite different performance behaviorswhen handling completion notification, unbalancedcommunication patterns and differentcommunication buffer reuse patterns.
Keywords:
Cluster computing