Parallel Virtual Machine

<h2 id="design">Design</h2>
<p>PVM is a software system that enables a collection of heterogeneous computers to be used as a coherent and flexible concurrent computational resource, or a "parallel <a href="/facts/Virtual_machine/BLevU3sx">virtual machine</a>".
</p><p>The individual computers may be shared-memory or local-memory <a href="/facts/Multiprocessor/aDCfehDQ">multiprocessors</a>, <a href="/facts/Vector_processor/nYAsIKT0">vector</a> <a href="/facts/Supercomputer/HT9NwGAN">supercomputers</a>, specialized <a href="/facts/CPU/Jxp1bqMV">graphics engines</a>, or <a href="/facts/Scalar_processor/Rwma07cc">scalar</a> <a href="/facts/Workstation/h5tK4hTt">workstations</a> and <a href="/facts/Personal_computer/koaYfNce">PCs</a>, that may be interconnected by a variety of <a href="/facts/Computer_network/3w5RM99p">networks</a>, such as <a href="/facts/Ethernet/nMfhU8tU">Ethernet</a> or <a href="/facts/Fiber_Distributed_Data_Interface/nowmb0ue">FDDI</a>.
</p><p>PVM consists of a run-time environment and library for <a href="/facts/Message_passing/RYf3hD3J">message passing</a>, task and resource management, and fault notification. While PVM will not automatically make a commercial software package run faster, it <i>does</i> provide a powerful set of functions for manually parallelizing an existing source program, or for writing new parallel/distributed programs.
</p><p>The PVM software must be specifically installed on every machine that is to be used in a given "virtual machine". There is no "automatic" installation of <a href="/facts/Executable/VSst9eLA">executables</a> onto remote machines in PVM, although simply copying the pvm3/lib and pvm3/bin directories to another <i>similar</i> machine (and setting $PVM_ROOT and $PVM_ARCH) is sufficient for running PVM programs. <a href="/facts/Compiler/WNfCDFJe">Compiling</a> or building PVM programs requires the full PVM installation.
</p><p>User programs written in <a href="/facts/C_(programming_language)/Ky2No763">C</a>, <a href="/facts/C%2B%2B/Et0F2qn9">C++</a>, or <a href="/facts/Fortran/m1KqjcMU">Fortran</a> can access PVM through provided library routines.
</p><p>PVM also supports <a href="/facts/Broadcasting_(computing)/NRj7gHre">broadcasting</a> (PVM_bcast) which sends to all processes in a group and multicasting (PVM_mcast) which sends to a specific list of processes.
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<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul>
<li>Free and open-source software portal</li></ul>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/CORBA/VUDlTHs5">CORBA</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Occam_(programming_language)/5EWXeIKY">Occam programming language</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Ease_(programming_language)/jPwbdx6Q">Ease programming language</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Linda_(coordination_language)/WxULHNsV">Linda (coordination language)</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Calculus_of_communicating_systems/0FNkQbug">Calculus of communicating systems</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Calculus_of_Broadcasting_Systems/CEEoBXKa">Calculus of Broadcasting Systems</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Message_Passing_Interface/BEuBgDpm">Message Passing Interface</a> (MPI)</li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.csm.ornl.gov/pvm/pvm_home.html">Official website</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070321103208/http://www.parawiki.org/index.php?title=Parallel_Virtual_Machine&redirect=no">Parawiki: Parallel Virtual Machine</a> at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a> (archived 21 March 2007)</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>This article is based on material taken from Parallel+Virtual+Machine at the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing  prior to 1 November 2008 and incorporated under the "relicensing" terms of the GFDL, version 1.3 or later. <a href="https://foldoc.org/Parallel+Virtual+Machine" target="_blank">https://foldoc.org/Parallel+Virtual+Machine</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>"Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) Homepage". <a href="http://www.csm.ornl.gov/pvm/" target="_blank">http://www.csm.ornl.gov/pvm/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) Homepage". <a href="http://www.csm.ornl.gov/pvm/" target="_blank">http://www.csm.ornl.gov/pvm/</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Parallel Virtual Machine open-in-new

Parallel Virtual Machine