Monit: a performance monitoring tool for parallel and pseudo-parallel programs

Abstract

This paper describes a performance monitoring system, Monit, developed for performance evaluation of parallel systems. Monit uses trace files that are generated during the execution of parallel programs. Monit analyzes these trace files and produces time-oriented graphs of resource usage and system queues. Users interactively select the displayed items, resolution, and time intervals of interest. The current implementation of Monit is for SUN-3 workstation, but the program is easily adaptable to other devices. We also introduce a parallel programming environment, PPL, implemented as a superset of C for the Sequent Balance 8000 multi-processor system. Parallel programs written in PPL can produce the trace files for Monit. Monit is also integrated into a process-oriented simulation language CSIM. CSIM allows the creation of simulation models based on multiple processes competing for resources. The similarity between parallel processes in PPL and pseudo-parallel processes in CSIM facilitates this combined use of Monit.