High-Speed Connection Control Feature and Its Applications

摘要

A High-speed Connection Control Feature (HCCF) has been developed on the basis of the M Parallel concept for managing inter-processor (inter-CPN, central processing node) communication, load balancing, and exclusivity control of shared data. The HCCF is loaded onto a dedicated processor called the H-6710 High-speed Connection Facility and communicates with individual processors via Inter-System Connection Channels (ISCHs). To support scalable parallel processing, the operating system (OS), Virtual-storage operating system 3 in the forefront of system product (VOS3/FS), running on each CPN has also been enhanced with new functions. Conventional parallel systems use magnetic disks to control exclusivity of shared data, which increases the processor load. In M Parallel systems using an HCCF, on the other hand, much of the parallel processing such as exclusivity control of shared data is off-loaded to the HCCF, which reduces the load on the CPNs. Furthermore, since the OS on each CPN needs only to consider one-to-one communication with the HCCF, the load on individual CPNs does not increase significantly as the degree of parallelism grows. The M Parallel Series thus facilitates the construction of scalable systems.