Intel® MPI Library 4.0 Update 1 for Windows* OS
Release Notes

Contents

Overview
What's New
Key Features
System Requirements
Installation Notes
Special Features and Known Issues
Documentation
Technical Support
Disclaimer and Legal Information

Overview

The Intel® MPI Library for Windows* OS is a multi-fabric message passing library based on ANL* MPICH2* and OSU* MVAPICH2*.

The Intel® MPI Library for Windows* OS implements the Message Passing Interface, version 2 (MPI-2) specification.

To receive technical support and updates, you need to register your Intel® Software Development Product. See section Technical Support.

Product Contents

The Intel® MPI Library Runtime Environment (RTO) contains the tools you need to run programs including SMPD services and supporting utilities, dynamic libraries, and documentation.

The Intel® MPI Library Development Kit (SDK) includes all of the Runtime Environment components plus include files and modules, interface libraries, debug libraries and test codes.

Related Products and Services

Information on Intel® Software Development Products is available at http://www.intel.com/software/products.

Some of the related products include:

- The Intel® Software College provides training for developers on leading-edge software development technologies. Training consists of online and instructor-led courses covering all Intel® architectures, platforms, tools, and technologies.

What's New

The Intel® MPI Library 4.0 Update 1 for Windows* OS is an update release of the Intel® MPI Library for Windows* OS. This release includes the following updates compared to the Intel® MPI Library 4.0 (see product documentation for more details):

 

The Intel® MPI Library 4.0 for Windows* OS is a new release of the Intel® MPI Library for Windows* OS. This release includes the following new features compared to the Intel® MPI Library 3.2 Update 2 (see product documentation for more details):

Example

Set the I_MPI_FABRICS environment variable to select a particular network fabric.

$ mpiexec -n 4 –env I_MPI_FABRICS shm:dapl ./IMB-MPI1

See more details in the Intel® MPI Library for Windows* OS Reference Manual.

Key features

This release of the Intel® MPI Library supports the following major features:

System Requirements

The following sections describe supported hardware and software

Supported Hardware

Systems based on the IA-32 architecture:

Systems based on the Intel® 64 architecture:

Supported Software

Operating Systems:

(SDK only) Compilers:

Batch Systems:

Recommended InfiniBand Software:

SUPPORTED LANGUAGES

Installation Notes

Launch the installer and follow the instructions. See Intel® MPI Library for Windows* OS Installation Guide for details.

Special Features and Known Issues

If your application depends on the strict pre-MPI-2.1 behavior, set the environment variable I_MPI_COMPATIBILITY to 3.

See the Intel® MPI Library for Windows* OS Reference Manual for more details.

To reduce the probability of this issue, decrease the auto disconnect time.

From the command line do the following:

net config server /autodisconnect:time_before_autodisconnect

The default value of the auto disconnect time is usually set to 15 minutes.

Documentation

The Intel® MPI Library for Windows* OS Getting Started Guide contains information on the following subjects:

The Intel® MPI Library for Windows* OS Reference Manual contains information on the following subjects:

The Intel® MPI Library for Windows* OS Installation Guide contains information on the following subjects:

Notation Conventions

Release Notes and user guide documentation use the notation conventions listed in the following table:

Style

Definition

This type style

indicates an element of syntax, a reserved word, a keyword, a file name, or part of a program example (text appears in lowercase unless UPPERCASE is required)

This type style

indicates what you type as input

This type style

indicates an argument on a command line or an option's argument

[ items ]

indicates that the items enclosed in brackets are optional

{ item | item }

indicates a set of choices from which you must select one

... (ellipses)

indicates that an argument can be repeated several times

Technical Support

Your feedback is very important to us. To receive technical support for the tools provided in this product and technical information including FAQ's and product updates, you need to register for an Intel® Premier Support account at the Registration Center.

NOTE: Registering for support varies for release product or pre-release products (alpha, beta, etc) - only released products have support web pages on http://support.intel.com/.

To register for an account, please visit the Intel® Registration Center web site. If you have forgotten your password, please email a request to: quad.support@intel.com. Please do not email your technical issue to this email address.

The product support web site, http://www.intel.com/software/products/support/mpi, provides top technical issues, frequently asked questions, product documentation, and product errata.

There is an HPC and Intel® Cluster Tools Forum for HPC experts and enthusiasts to share their knowledge, resources, and insights for the advancement of HPC solutions, cluster solutions, and the computing architectures that implement them.

Submitting Issues

Before submitting a support issue, see the Intel® MPI Library for Windows* OS Getting Started Guide for details on post-install testing to ensure that basic facilities are working.

When submitting a support issue to Intel® Premier Support, please provide specific details of your problem, including:

You can obtain version information for the Intel® MPI Library package in the file mpisupport.txt.

Steps to submit an issue

  1. Go to https://premier.intel.com/
  2. Log in to the site. Note that your username and password are case-sensitive.
  3. Click on the "Submit Issue" link in the left navigation bar.
  4. Choose "Development Environment" from the "Product Type" drop-down list.
  5. If this is a software or license-related issue, choose "Intel® MPI Library, Windows" from the "Product Name" drop-down list.
  6. Enter your question and complete the fields in the windows that follow to successfully submit the issue.

NOTE: Please notify your support representative prior to submitting source code where access needs to be restricted to certain countries to determine if this request can be accommodated.

Disclaimer and Legal Information

INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH INTEL® PRODUCTS. NO LICENSE, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, BY ESTOPPEL OR OTHERWISE, TO ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IS GRANTED BY THIS DOCUMENT. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN INTEL'S TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE FOR SUCH PRODUCTS, INTEL ASSUMES NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER, AND INTEL DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY, RELATING TO SALE AND/OR USE OF INTEL PRODUCTS INCLUDING LIABILITY OR WARRANTIES RELATING TO FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR INFRINGEMENT OF ANY PATENT, COPYRIGHT OR OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT.
UNLESS OTHERWISE AGREED IN WRITING BY INTEL, THE INTEL PRODUCTS ARE NOT DESIGNED NOR INTENDED FOR ANY APPLICATION IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE INTEL PRODUCT COULD CREATE A SITUATION WHERE PERSONAL INJURY OR DEATH MAY OCCUR.
Intel may make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time, without notice. Designers must not rely on the absence or characteristics of any features or instructions marked "reserved" or "undefined." Intel reserves these for future definition and shall have no responsibility whatsoever for conflicts or incompatibilities arising from future changes to them. The information here is subject to change without notice. Do not finalize a design with this information.
The products described in this document may contain design defects or errors known as errata which may cause the product to deviate from published specifications. Current characterized errata are available on request.
Contact your local Intel sales office or your distributor to obtain the latest specifications and before placing your product order.
Copies of documents which have an order number and are referenced in this document, or other Intel literature, may be obtained by calling 1-800-548-4725, or by visiting Intel's Web Site.

Intel processor numbers are not a measure of performance. Processor numbers differentiate features within each processor family, not across different processor families. See http://www.intel.com/products/processor_number for details.

BunnyPeople, Celeron, Celeron Inside, Centrino, Centrino logo, Core Inside, FlashFile, i960, InstantIP, Intel, Intel logo, Intel386, Intel486, Intel740, IntelDX2, IntelDX4, IntelSX2, Intel Core, Intel Inside, Intel Inside logo, Intel. Leap ahead., Intel. Leap ahead. logo, Intel NetBurst, Intel NetMerge, Intel NetStructure, Intel SingleDriver, Intel SpeedStep, Intel StrataFlash, Intel Viiv, Intel vPro, Intel XScale, IPLink, Itanium, Itanium Inside, MCS, MMX, Oplus, OverDrive, PDCharm, Pentium, Pentium Inside, skoool, Sound Mark, The Journey Inside, VTune, Xeon, and Xeon Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Copyright © 2007-2010, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

Optimization Notice

The Intel® MPI Library contains functions that are more highly optimized for Intel microprocessors than for other microprocessors. While the functions in the Intel® MPI library offer optimizations for both Intel and Intel-compatible microprocessors, depending on your code and other factors, you will likely get extra performance on Intel microprocessors. 

While the paragraph above describes the basic optimization approach for the Intel® MPI library as a whole, the library may or may not be optimized to the same degree for non-Intel microprocessors for optimizations that are not unique to Intel microprocessors. These optimizations include Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (Intel® SSE2), Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (Intel® SSE3), and Supplemental Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (Intel® SSSE3) instruction sets and other optimizations. Intel does not guarantee the availability, functionality, or effectiveness of any optimization on microprocessors not manufactured by Intel. Microprocessor-dependent optimizations in this product are intended for use with Intel microprocessors. 

 Intel recommends that you evaluate other library products to determine which best meets your requirements.

The Intel® MPI Library is based on MPICH2* from Argonne National Laboratory* (ANL) and MVAPICH2* from Ohio State University* (OSU).

See the information below for additional licenses of the following 3rd party tools used within the Intel® MPI Library: Python* and Windows Installer XML* (WiX).

Python*
-------
PYTHON SOFTWARE FOUNDATION LICENSE VERSION 2
----------------------------------------------------
1.
This LICENSE AGREEMENT is between the Python Software Foundation
("PSF"), and the Individual or Organization ("Licensee") accessing and
otherwise using this software ("Python") in source or binary form and
its associated documentation.
2. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License Agreement, PSF
hereby grants Licensee a nonexclusive, royalty-free, world-wide
license to reproduce, analyze, test, perform and/or display publicly,
prepare derivative works, distribute, and otherwise use Python
alone or in any derivative version, provided, however, that PSF's
License Agreement and PSF's notice of copyright, i.e., "Copyright (c)
2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Python Software Foundation; All Rights
Reserved" are retained in Python alone or in any derivative version
prepared by Licensee.
3. In the event Licensee prepares a derivative work that is based on
or incorporates Python or any part thereof, and wants to make
the derivative work available to others as provided herein, then
Licensee hereby agrees to include in any such work a brief summary of
the changes made to Python.
4. PSF is making Python available to Licensee on an "AS IS"
basis. PSF MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED. BY WAY OF EXAMPLE, BUT NOT LIMITATION, PSF MAKES NO AND
DISCLAIMS ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS
FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT THE USE OF PYTHON WILL NOT
INFRINGE ANY THIRD PARTY RIGHTS.
5. PSF SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO LICENSEE OR ANY OTHER USERS OF PYTHON
FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR LOSS AS
A RESULT OF MODIFYING, DISTRIBUTING, OR OTHERWISE USING PYTHON,
OR ANY DERIVATIVE THEREOF, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY THEREOF.
6. This License Agreement will automatically terminate upon a material
breach of its terms and conditions.
7. Nothing in this License Agreement shall be deemed to create any
relationship of agency, partnership, or joint venture between PSF and
Licensee. This License Agreement does not grant permission to use PSF
trademarks or trade name in a trademark sense to endorse or promote
products or services of Licensee, or any third party.
8. By copying, installing or otherwise using Python, Licensee
agrees to be bound by the terms and conditions of this License
Agreement.

 

Windows Installer XML* (WiX)
-----------------------------
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/cpl1.0.php