Simulation-Driven Design of Large-Scale Systems Architecture

This paper presents powerful augmentations to HPE’s version of the Structural Simulation Toolkit (SST) [[1]] with HPE’s Slingshot fabric [[2]] for large-scale systems’ simulations [[3]]. We have augmented the simulator with new features for Slingshot fabrics such as modelling multiple Network Interface Controllers (NICs) per node, multi-threading, and user-defined communication contexts [[4]] and accurate end point modelling. We have evaluated these features by comparing their simulation results with Slingshot based prototype hardware for accuracy. With our solution, designers can explore a wide range of software architectural design choices to optimize real-world applications efficiently, projecting Slingshot fabrics performance to customers through the technical sales team. These features will also provide design insights for future generations of Slingshot fabrics.