Paper Info
Title
Formal Verification and its Impact on the Snooping versus Directory Protocol Debate
Abstract
This invited paper argues that to facilitate formal verification, multiprocessor systems should (1) decouple enforcing coherence from enforcing a memory consistency model and (2) decouple the interconnection network from the cache coherence protocol (by not relying on any specific interconnect ordering or synchronicity properties). Of the two dominant classes of cache coherence protocols-directory protocols and snooping protocols these two desirable properties favor use of directory protocols over snooping protocols. Although the conceptual simplicity of snooping protocols is seductive, aggressive implementations of snooping protocols lack these decoupling properties, making them perhaps more difficult in practice to reason about, verify, and implement correctly. Conversely, directory protocols may seem more complicated, but they are more amenable to these decoupling properties, which simplify protocol design and verification. Finally, this paper describes the recently-proposed token coherence protocol驴s adherence to these properties and discusses some of its implications for future multiprocessor systems.
Year
DOI
Venue
2005
10.1109/ICCD.2005.58
ICCD
Keywords
Field
DocType
future multiprocessor system,directory protocol debate,multiprocessor system,recently-proposed token coherence protocol,cache coherence protocols-directory protocol,protocol design,cache coherence protocol,decoupling property,aggressive implementation,formal verification,directory protocol
MSI protocol,MESIF protocol,Directory,Computer science,MESI protocol,Computer network,Real-time computing,Memory coherence,Distributed computing,Parallel computing,Bus sniffing,Cache coherence,Formal verification
Conference
ISSN
ISBN
Citations 
1063-6404
0-7695-2451-6
13
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.73
22
1
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Milo M. K. Martin12677125.22