Reference: Thapar, M. & Delagi, B. Simulation of Cache Coherence Protocols on an Instrumented Simulator. 1991.
Abstract: Simulation is an important form of analysis for computer systems. This paper describes an instrumented simulation tool for the performance analysis of cache coherence protocols in tightly couples shared memory multiprocessors. the instrumentation provided by the simulator allows the user to analyze the performance of the system under study by making visual observations. The object oriented design methodology followed by the simulation environment allows rapid prototyping of a variety of cache coherence protocols. This simulation tool is currently being used for the performance analysis and validation of various cache coherence protocols. We describe the use of the instrumentation provided by the simulator to analyze the factors that affect the performance of a parallel machine. This is illustrated by finding the performance bottlenecks in a program that takes longer to execute on a machine with a larger number of processors.