Parallel I/O, in the context of a
computer, means the performance of multiple
input/output
In computing, input/output (I/O, or informally io or IO) is the communication between an information processing system, such as a computer, and the outside world, possibly a human or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals ...
operations at the same time, for instance simultaneously outputs to storage devices and display devices. It is a fundamental feature of
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...
s.
One particular instance is parallel writing of data to disk; when file data is spread across multiple disks, for example in a
RAID
Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to:
Attack
* Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground
* Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business
* Panty raid, a prankish raid by male college ...
array, one can store multiple parts of the data at the same time, thereby achieving higher write speeds than with a single device.
Other ways of parallel access to data include:
Parallel Virtual File System,
Lustre,
GFS etc.
Features
Scientific computing
It is used for scientific computing and not for databases. It breaks up support into multiple layers including High level I/O library, Middleware layer and Parallel file system. Parallel File System manages the single view, maintains logical space and provides access to data files.
Storage
A single file may be stripped across one or more object storage target, which increases the bandwidth while accessing the file and available disk space. The caches are larger in Parallel I/O and shared through distributed memory systems.
Breakthroughs
Companies have been running Parallel I/O on their servers to achieve results with regard to price and performance. Parallel processing is especially critical for scientific calculations where applications are not only CPU but also are I/O bound.
See also
*
Converged infrastructure
*
Dynamic infrastructure Dynamic Infrastructure is an information technology concept related to the design of data centers, whereby the underlying hardware and software can respond dynamically and more efficiently to changing levels of demand. In other words, data center a ...
References
Concurrency (computer science)
Input/output
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