PVaniM: A tool for visualization in network computing environments

Network computing has evolved into a popular and effective mode of high performance computing. Network computing environments have fundamental differences from hardware multiprocessors, involving a different approach to measuring and characterizing performance, monitoring an application's progress and understanding program behavior. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of PVaniM, an experimental visualization environment we have developed for the PVM network computing system. PVaniM supports a two-phase approach whereby on-line visualization focuses on large-grained events that are influenced by and relate to the dynamic network computing environment, and postmortem visualization provides for detailed program analysis and tuning. PVaniM's capabilities are illustrated via its use on several applications and a comparison with single-phase visualization environments developed for network computing. Our experiences indicate that, for several classes of applications, the two-phase visualization scheme can provide valuable insight into the behavior, efficiency and operation of distributed and parallel programs in network computing environments. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.