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8 <img src="simgrid_logo_2011.png" alt="SimGrid - Scalable simulation of distributed systems, ranging from grids to peer-to-peer systems" />
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12 \htmlinclude .index.doc.toc
20 SimGrid is a toolkit that provides core functionalities for the simulation
21 of distributed applications in heterogeneous distributed environments.
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23 The specific goal of the project is to facilitate research in the area of
24 distributed and parallel application scheduling on distributed computing
25 platforms ranging from simple network of workstations to Computational
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29 - The official webpage is <a href="http://simgrid.gforge.inria.fr/">simgrid.gforge.inria.fr</a>.
30 - The Frequently Asked Questions are <a href="http://simgrid.gforge.inria.fr/faq.html">here</a>.
31 - The development webpage is <a href="https://gforge.inria.fr/projects/simgrid//">gforge.inria.fr/projects/simgrid</a>.
32 - The user mailing list is <simgrid-user@lists.gforge.inria.fr>
33 - The SimGrid software package can be downloaded from <a href="http://simgrid.gforge.inria.fr/download.php">here</a>.
38 \section overview Overview of the toolkit components
40 As depicted by the following diagram, the SimGrid toolkit is basically
41 three-layered (click on the picture to jump to a specific component).
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47 \htmlinclude simgrid_modules.map
49 <br><b>Relationships between the SimGrid components (click to jump to API)</b>
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54 \subsection overview_envs Programmation environments layer
56 SimGrid provides several programmation environments built on top of a unique
57 simulation kernel. Each environment targets a specific audiance and
58 constitutes a different paradigm. To choose which of them you want to use,
59 you have to think about what you want to do and what would be the result of
62 - If you want to study a theoritical problem and compare several
63 heuristics, you probably want to try <b>\ref MSG_API</b> (yet another
64 historical name). It was designed exactly to that extend and should allow
65 you to build easily rather realistic multi-agents simulation. Yet,
66 realism is not the main goal of this environment and the most annoying
67 technical issues of real platforms are masked here. Check the \ref
68 MSG_API section for more information.
70 - If you want to study the behaviour of a MPI application using emulation
71 technics, you should have a look at the <b>\ref SMPI_API</b> (Simulated
72 MPI) programming environment. Unfortunately, this work is still underway.
73 Check the \ref SMPI_API section for more information.
75 - If you want to develop a real distributed application, then you may find
76 <b>\ref GRAS_API</b> (Grid Reality And Simulation) useful. This is an API
77 for the realization of distributed applications.
79 Moreover, there is two implementations of this API: one on top of the
80 SURF (allowing to develop and test your application within the comfort of
81 the simulator) and another suited for deployment on real platforms
82 (allowing the resulting application to be highly portable and extremely
85 Even if you do not plan to run your code for real, you may want to switch
86 to GRAS if you intend to use MSG in a very intensive way (e.g. for
87 simulating a peer-to-peer environment).
89 See the \ref GRAS_API section for more details.
91 If your favorite programming environment/model is not there (BSP,
92 components, OpenMP, etc.) is not represented in the SimGrid toolkit yet, you may
93 consider adding it. You should contact us first on the
94 <a href=http://lists.gforge.inria.fr/mailman/listinfo/simgrid-devel>SimGrid
95 developers mailing list</a>, though.
97 \subsection overview_kernel Simulation kernel layer
99 The core functionnalities to simulate a virtual platform are provided by a
100 module called <b>\ref SURF_API</b>. It is
101 very low-level and is not intended to be used as such by end-users. Instead,
102 it serve as a basis for the higher level layer.
104 SURF main features are a fast max-min linear solver and the ability to
105 change transparently the model used to describe the platform. This greatly
106 eases the comparison of the several models existing in the litterature.
108 See the \ref SURF_API section for more details.
110 \subsection overview_fondation Base layer
112 The base of the whole toolkit is constituted by the <b>\ref XBT_API
113 (eXtended Bundle of Tools)</b>.
115 It is a portable library providing some grounding features such as \ref
116 XBT_log, \ref XBT_ex and \ref XBT_config. XBT also encompass
117 the following convenient datastructures: \ref XBT_dynar, \ref XBT_fifo, \ref
118 XBT_dict, \ref XBT_heap, \ref XBT_set and \ref XBT_swag.
120 See the \ref XBT_API section for more details.
123 \subsection lucas_layer Tracing simulation
124 Finally, a transversal module allows you to trace your simulation. More documentation in the section \ref TRACE_doc
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128 The SimGrid software package can be downloaded from
129 <a href="http://simgrid.gforge.inria.fr/download.php">here</a>.<br>
131 If you are interested in the history of SimGrid and in current and planned development,
132 you can find out more <a href="http://simgrid.gforge.inria.fr/history.html">here</a>.
134 Any question, remark or suggestion are welcome on the
135 <a href="http://lists.gforge.inria.fr/mailman/listinfo/simgrid-user">SimGrid users
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