Deck 17: Parallel Processing

Question 1

An attractive feature of an SMP is that the existence of multiple processors is transparent to the user.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

SMPs,clusters,and NUMA systems fit into the ________ category of computer systems.

A)SISD
B)MIMD
C)SIMD
D)MISD

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Software cache coherence schemes attempt to avoid the need for additional hardware circuitry and logic by relying on the compiler and operating system to deal with the problem.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Both clusters and symmetric multiprocessors provide a configuration with multiple processors to support high-demand applications.

Question 5

With a write-update protocol there can be multiple readers but only one writer at a time.

Question 6

A cloud broker is useful when cloud services are too complex for a cloud consumer to easily manage.

Question 7

With multithreading the instruction stream is divided into several smaller streams,known as threads,such that the threads can be executed in parallel.

Question 8

A taxonomy first introduced by _______ is still the most common way of categorizing systems with parallel processing capability.

A)Randolph
B)Flynn
C)von Neuman
D)Desai

Question 9

An L1 cache that does not connect directly to the bus cannot engage in a snoopy protocol.

Question 10

An SMP operating system manages processor and other computer resources so that the user perceives a single operating system controlling system resources.

Question 11

Vector and array processors fall into the ________ category of computer systems.

A)SIMD
B)SISD
C)MISD
D)MIMD

Question 12

The main drawback of the bus organization is reliability.

Question 13

Symmetric multiprocessors (SMPs)are one of the earliest,and still the most common,example of parallel organization.

Question 14

The function of switching applications and data resources over from a failed system to an alternative system in the cluster is referred to as failback.

Question 15

A _________ problem arises when multiple copies of the same data can exist in different caches simultaneously,and if processors are allowed to update their own copies freely,an inconsistent view of memory can result.

A)cache coherence
B)cluster
C)failover
D)failback

Question 16

The term SMP refers to a computer hardware architecture and also to the operating system behavior that reflects that architecture.

Question 17

The objective with NUMA is to maintain a transparent system wide memory while permitting multiple multiprocessor nodes, each with its own bus or other internal interconnect system.

Question 18

The most important measure of performance for a processor is the rate at which it executes instructions.

Question 19

Uniprocessors fall into the _______ category of computer systems.

A)MIMD
B)SIMD
C)SISD
D)MISD

Question 20

Snoopy protocols are not suitable for a bus-based multiprocessor.

Question 21

Computer systems that fall into the __________ category have a single processor that executes a single instruction stream to operate on data stored in a single memory.

Question 22

With no multithreading,_________ is the simple pipeline found in traditional RISC and CISC machines.

A)superscalar
B)single-threaded scalar
C)blocked multithreaded scalar
D)interleaved multithreaded scalar

Question 23

Computer systems that fall into the __________ category have a sequence of data that is transmitted to a set of processors,each of which executes a different instruction sequence.

Question 24

The __________ is the simplest mechanism for constructing a multiprocessor system.

Question 25

Hardware-based solutions are generally referred to as cache coherence _______.

A)clusters
B)streams
C)protocols
D)vectors

Question 26

The four states of the MESI protocol are: modified,shared,invalid,and ______.

Question 27

An approach that allows for a high degree of instruction-level parallelism without increasing circuit complexity or power consumption is called ________.

Question 28

A ________ is a group of interconnected,whole computers working together as a unified computing resource that can create the illusion of being one machine.

Question 29

An operation that switches the processor from one process to another by saving all the process control data,register,and other information for the first and replacing them with the process information for the second is:

A)resource ownership switch
B)process switch
C)thread switch
D)cluster switch

Question 30

Computer systems that fall into the _________ category have a single machine instruction that controls the simultaneous execution of a number of processing elements on a lockstep basis.

Question 31

A ________ is a dispatchable unit of work within a process that includes a processor context and its own data area for a stack.

A)process
B)process switch
C)thread
D)thread switch

Question 32

_________ causes results issuing from one functional unit to be fed immediately into another functional unit and so on.

A)Chaining
B)Rollover
C)Passive standby
D)Pipelining

Question 33

______ protocols distribute the responsibility for maintaining cache coherence among all of the cache controllers in a multiprocessor.

Question 34

Two key characteristics of a process are: scheduling / execution and ________.

Question 35

________ provides service to customers in the form of software,specifically application software,running on and accessible in the cloud.

A)PaaS
B)CaaS
C)SaaS
D)IaaS

Question 36

A __________ is an instance of a program running on a computer.

A)process
B)process switch
C)thread
D)thread switch

Question 37

With ________ instructions are simultaneously issued from multiple threads to the execution units of a superscalar processor.

A)SMT
B)single-threaded scalar
C)coarse-grained multithreading
D)chip multiprocessing

Question 38

Replicating the entire processor on a single chip with each processor handling separate threads is _________.

A)interleaved multithreading
B)blocked multithreading
C)simultaneous multithreading
D)chip multiprocessing

Question 39

Which of the following is an essential characteristic of cloud computing?

A)rapid elasticity
B)measured service
C)broad network access
D)all of the above

Question 40

Computer systems that fall into the ________ category have a set of processors that simultaneously execute different instruction sequences on different data sets.

Question 41

An approach where all processors have access to all parts of main memory using loads and stores,with the memory access time of a processor differing depending on which region of main memory is accessed,is _________.

Question 42

The four deployment models defined by NIST are: public cloud,private cloud,community cloud,and __________ cloud.

Question 43

_________ is the easiest multithreading approach to implement.

Question 44

Widely used in data centers to save space and improve system management,a _________ is a server architecture that houses multiple server modules in a single chassis.

Question 45

The four principal approaches to multithreading are: interleaved (fine-grained),blocked (coarse-grained),simultaneous,and ________.