Message Passing Architecture

Figure 6.1: Message passing systems.

• Message passing systems provide alternative methods for communication and movement of data among multiprocessors (compared to shared memory multiprocessor systems, see Fig. 6.1).
• There is no global memory so it is necessary to move data from one local memory to another by means of message passing (send/receive pairs).
• Each processor has access to its own local memory and can communicate with other processors using the interconnection network. These systems eventually gave way to Internet-connected systems where the processor/memory nodes are cluster nodes, servers, clients, or nodes in a greater grid.
• Aspects of message passing systems;
  • programming model,
  • message routing,
  • network switching,
  • processor support for message passing,
  • examples of message passing systems.