Pstack

POETS Simulation Stack (pstack)

<p align="center"> <img align="center" src="docs/pstack.svg" width="40%" alt="PSIM Setup"> </p>

Overview

pstack is a distributed POETS simulation stack based on Redis. It exposes the compute power of a hetrogeneous array of POETS back-end engines to multiple users in a POSIX-like environment.

Features:

• Processes: application instances modeled after POSIX processes
• Multi-user support: multiple users can run processes on a single pstack service simultaneously
• Distributed execution: a single application can be distributed across several machines in arbitrary arrangements
• Real-time Monitoring: live monitor of running processes and back-end engine resource utilisation
• Heterogeneity: supports arbitrary back-end engines (e.g. different simulators or even actual hardware)
• Job queues: processes are queued when back-end engines are unavailable or insufficient
• Terminal: command line user interface with built-in Python interpreter
• Debugging: supports debug breakpoints and manual inspection/injection of messages
• Unit Testing: Down-to-earth unit testing framework supporting push-button testing over entire back-end infrastructure
• Minimal dependencies: just pip and socat on a fresh Ubuntu installation.
• Automated Deployment: parallel (multi-host) installation over SSH in 10 seconds using fabric.

Design Goals:

• Focus on developing POETS-specific capabilities while leaving more common programming chores to existing specialized tools and technologies (Redis for distributed shared memory and socat for socket communication).
• Decouple stack layers using TCP connections to permit reliable, performant and secure distributed operation using standard communication technologies (Ethernet, SSH tunnels etc.).
• Leverage Python for productivity (multiprocessing, jinja) and C for performance (simulation)
• Deliver the best performance and feature set while keeping the implementation as simple and maintainable as possible.

Documentation

Design Notes

• Stack Organization

User Guides

• Installation
• Using psim (standalone simulations)
• Using pcli (distributed simulations)
• Cambridge pstack Deployment

Developer Guides

• Programming with pstack
• Developing pstack Engines