What (who) is symmetric multi-processing - definition

MULTIPROCESSOR ARCHITECTURE WHERE TWO OR MORE IDENTICAL PROCESSORS ARE CONNECTED TO A SINGLE, SHARED MAIN MEMORY, HAVE FULL ACCESS TO ALL INPUT AND OUTPUT DEVICES, AND ARE CONTROLLED BY A SINGLE OS THAT TREATS ALL PROCESSORS EQUALLY

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Symmetric multiprocessing

Symmetric multiprocessing or shared-memory multiprocessing (SMP) involves a multiprocessor computer hardware and software architecture where two or more identical processors are connected to a single, shared main memory, have full access to all input and output devices, and are controlled by a single operating system instance that treats all processors equally, reserving none for special purposes. Most multiprocessor systems today use an SMP architecture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetric_multiprocessing

symmetric multiprocessing

<parallel> (SMP) Two or more similar processors connected via a high-bandwidth link and managed by one {operating system}, where each processor has equal access to I/O devices. This is in contrast to the "compute server" kind of parallel processor where a front-end processor handles all I/O to disks, terminals and local area network etc. The processors are treated more or less equally, with application programs able to run on any or perhaps all processors in the system, interchangeably, at the operating system's discretion. Simple MP usually involves assigning each processor to a fixed task (such as managing the file system), reserving the single main CPU for general tasks. OS/2 currently supports so-called HMP (Hybrid Multiprocessing), which provides some elements of symmetric multiprocessing, using add-on IBM software called MP/2. OS/2 SMP was planned for release in late 1993. (1995-03-19)

symmetric multiprocessor

symmetric multiprocessing

Wikipedia

Symmetric multiprocessing

Symmetric multiprocessing or shared-memory multiprocessing (SMP) involves a multiprocessor computer hardware and software architecture where two or more identical processors are connected to a single, shared main memory, have full access to all input and output devices, and are controlled by a single operating system instance that treats all processors equally, reserving none for special purposes. Most multiprocessor systems today use an SMP architecture. In the case of multi-core processors, the SMP architecture applies to the cores, treating them as separate processors.

Professor John D. Kubiatowicz considers traditionally SMP systems to contain processors without caches. Culler and Pal-Singh in their 1998 book "Parallel Computer Architecture: A Hardware/Software Approach" mention: "The term SMP is widely used but causes a bit of confusion. [...] The more precise description of what is intended by SMP is a shared memory multiprocessor where the cost of accessing a memory location is the same for all processors; that is, it has uniform access costs when the access actually is to memory. If the location is cached, the access will be faster, but cache access times and memory access times are the same on all processors."

SMP systems are tightly coupled multiprocessor systems with a pool of homogeneous processors running independently of each other. Each processor, executing different programs and working on different sets of data, has the capability of sharing common resources (memory, I/O device, interrupt system and so on) that are connected using a system bus or a crossbar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetric multiprocessing