pvm_intro(1)
Table of Contents

NAME

PVM - Parallel Virtual Machine System Version 3

DESCRIPTION

PVM is a software system that enables a collection of heterogeneous computers to be used as a coherent and flexible concurrent computational resource.

The individual computers may be shared- or local-memory multiprocessors, vector supercomputers, specialized graphics engines, or scalar workstations, that may be interconnected by a variety of networks, such as ethernet, FDDI.

User programs written in C, C++ or Fortran access PVM through library routines (libpvm3.a and libfpvm3.a).

Daemon programs (pvmd3) provide communication and process control between computers.

MACHINE ARCHITECTURE

In the PVM system, machines are assigned a short string to identify their architectures (this includes operating system type as well as CPU type). The types currently predefined in the distribution are:
AFX8
Alliant FX/8
ALPHA
DEC Alpha/OSF-1
BAL
Sequent Balance
BFLY
BBN Butterfly TC2000
BSD386
80[34]86 running BSDI or BSD386
CM2
Thinking Machines CM-2 Sun front
CM5
Thinking Machines CM-5
CNVX
Convex using IEEE floating-point
CNVXN
Convex using native f.p.
CRAY
Cray
CRAY2
Cray-2
CRAYSMP
Cray S-MP
DGAV
Data General Aviion
E88K
Encore 88000
HP300
HP 9000 68000 cpu
HPPA
HP 9000 PA-Risc
KSR1
Kendall Square
I860
Intel RX Hypercube
IPSC2
Intel IPSC/2
LINUX
80[34]86 running Linux
MIPS
Mips
NEXT
NeXT
PGON
Intel Paragon
PMAX
DEC/Mips arch (3100, 5000, etc.)
RS6K
IBM/RS6000
RT
IBM/RT
SGI
Silicon Graphics IRIS
SGI5
Silicon Graphics IRIS running OS >= 5.0
SUN3
Sun 3
SUN4
Sun 4, 4c, sparc, etc. SUN4SOL2 Sun 4 running Solaris
SYMM
Sequent Symmetry
TITN
Stardent Titan
U370
IBM 3090 running AIX
UVAX
DEC/Microvax
VCM2
Thinking Machines CM-2 Vax front

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

The following environment variables are used by PVM and may be used to customize your PVM environment. If you set them, you should do so in your .cshrc or .profile file.
PVM_ROOT
The path where PVM libraries and system programs are installed, for example /usr/local/pvm3 or $HOME/pvm3. This variable must be set on each host where PVM is used in order for PVM to function. There is no default value.

PVM_EXPORT
Names of environment variables to export from a parent task to children tasks through pvm_spawn(). Multiple names must be separated by ':'. If PVM_EXPORT is not set, no environment is exported.

PVM_DEBUGGER
The debugger script to use when pvm_spawn() is called with PvmTaskDebug set. The default is $PVM_ROOT/lib/debugger.

PVM_DPATH
[v3.3.2 and later] The path of the pvmd startup script (default is $PVM_ROOT/lib/pvmd). It is overridden by host file option dx=. This variable is useful if you use a shell that doesn't automatically execute a startup script (such as .cshrc) to allow setting PVM_ROOT on slave (added) hosts. If you set it to the absolute or relative path of the pvmd startup script (for example /usr/local/pvm3/lib/pvmd or pvm3/lib/pvmd), the script will automatically set PVM_ROOT.

The following environment variables are used by PVM internally. With the exception of PVM_ARCH, their values should not be modified. This is for information only.
PVM_ARCH
The PVM architecture name of the host on which it is set, used to distinguish between machines with different executable (a.out) formats. Copies of a program for different architectures are installed in parallel directories named for PVM architectures.

PVMSOCK
Is passed from pvmd to spawned task, and gives the address of the pvmd local socket.

PVMEPID
Holds the expected process id of a spawned task exec'd by the pvmd. The task uses this value to identify itself when reconnecting to the pvmd.

PVMTMASK
[v3.3 and later] The libpvm trace mask, passed from the pvmd to spawned tasks.

SEE ALSO

aimk(1PVM), pvm(1PVM), pvmd3(1PVM), PVM 3.3 User's Guide and Reference Manual

AUTHORS

  1. University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN.
  2. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge TN.
  3. Emory University, Atlanta GA.
  4. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA
  5. Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center, Pittsburgh PA

Table of Contents

Back to man pages...