Simulation and Performance Study of Large Scale Computer Cluster Configuration: Combined Multi-level Approach

In this paper we describe an approach used to study the functional aspects and estimate the performance of large (read “ten times more cores than currently available”) cluster computing system configurations running MPI applications. A combination of a functional simulation, performance models, traces analysis and real-world measurements is used to achieve these goals. We also present the first results of applying this methodology to actual applications of interest.