Subject: HDFNOW--distributed HDF for Network of Workstations

From: [email-masked] (Albert Cheng)
Date: 13 Feb 1997 15:58:23 GMT

About HDFNOW Beta
                          Jan 29, 1997

HDFNOW is a library that supports HDF for a Network Of Workstations.  The
initial design supports the distributed Scientific Datasets for HDF files.

The Distributed SD (DSD) interface is designed for those who are familiar 
with the SD interface and experienced with message-passing programs. The
DSD interface is a layer on top of the SD interface and using MPI for 
interprocess communications.

The Beta version of the DSD interface has the following features:

   - speedup of I/O

   - Self described distributed file layout

   - Asynchronous I/O access by compute processes

   - chunking scheme for distributed scientific data sets

   - Ease to access data (different memory layout and disk layout)

   - other HDF features

The routines of the DSD interface includes:

   DSDstart - opens the distributed HDF files

   DSDnametoindex - uses the name of a scientific data set to
                    determine the index assigned to it

   DSDselect - opens an existing distributed scientific data set
               for access

   DSDcreate - creates a distributed scientific data set

   DSDreaddata - reads a hyperslab of data for a distributed scientific
                 data set

   DSDwritedata - writes a hyperslab of data for a distributed scientific
                  data set

   DSDendaccess - closes a distributed scientific data set
 
   DSDend - closes the distributed HDF files

Third Party Software Requirements:

   - HDF distribution release 4.0r2

   - MPICH 1.0.13 distribution.

Platforms/OS supported:

   - HP-UX A.09.03
   - IRIX 5.3
   - SunOS 4.1.4

Steps to install the DSD interface:

   - obtain the DSD interface from  
     
     ftp://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/pub/HDFNOW/dhdf.tar

   - tar -xf dhdf.tar

   - to compile the interface, follow the instructions in src/README

   - to run examples, follow the instructions in examples/README