Using SKaMPI for developing high-performance MPI programs with performance portability

The current practice of developing high-performance software for parallel computers includes a tuning phase where the software's performance is optimised for a specific hardware platform. This tuning phase often is costly and results in machine-specific, hence, less portable software. In this paper we present a publicly available database providing performance data for operations of the message-passing-interface (MPI) measured on several different platforms. This allows to design MPI programs for performance and portability in early stages of software development. Considering the performance of MPI operations while designing programmes allows the software developer (a) to select the fastest implementation alternative, (b) to write performance portable software (i.e., software showing high performance on several platforms without platform-specific tuning), if possible, and (c) to quantify the tradeoff between ultimate performance and performance portability for different platforms.