( ESNUG 505 Item 3 ) -------------------------------------------- [05/24/12]
From: Dean Drako <drako=user domain=icmanage not mom>
Subject: 524 engineer survey says network bottlenecks slow EDA tools 30%
Hi John,
IC Manage just completed a blind, anonymous, worldwide survey that covered
"design file management" in SoC/IC design, with 524 responses. I wanted to
share the three major findings with your DeepChip readers.
1. 30% EDA tool slowdown due to network storage bottlenecks
2. Top design file management problems
3. Designers issues with symbolic links for disk space management
30% EDA TOOL SLOWDOWN DUE TO NETWORK STORAGE BOTTLENECKS:
On average, network storage bottlenecks account for 30% of the EDA tool
iteration time. Nearly all the EDA design tools are impacted by network
storages bottlenecks, including place and route, RTL functional
verification, timing analysis, SPICE simulation/analysis, physical
verification, and custom layout. Input/output-bound applications in
particular are highly impacted, as large data sizes must be frequently
transferred over the network.
"For which application(s) do you face a significant
slowdown due to network storage bottlenecks?"
Place and Route : : ################### 37%
RTL functional verification : : ################# 34%
Timing analysis : : ################# 34%
SPICE simulation/analysis : : ############### 30%
Physical verification : : ############### 30%
Custom Layout : : ############ 25%
other : : ####### 13%
Low power Design/Analysis : : ### 7%
"For the applications above, what average % of your iteration
time do you attribute to network storage bottlenecks?"
<10% : : #### 4%
10% : : ####### 7%
20% : : ################################# 33%
30% : : ############################### 31%
40% : : ############ 12%
50% : : ########## 10%
60% : : ## 2%
70% : : 0%
80% : : 0%
90% : : 0%
>90% : : # 1%
Average EDA tool iteration time attributed to
network storage bottlenecks: 30 percent
TOP DESIGN FILE MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS:
The engineering challenges with design file management fall into two major
areas: Speed and storage. The top speed problems are network storage
bottlenecks slowing the creation and updates of remote and local
workspaces, and EDA tool slowdown. The storage problem is simply that the
cost of storage capacity needed to keep up with expanding design data is
too high -- design teams are constantly wrestling with storage needs.
"What are your top 2 problems related to design file management?"
Creating and/or updating *remote*
workspaces with many files is slow : : ####################### 45%
Application slowdown due to
network storage bottleneck : : ################### 37%
Creating and/or updating *local*
workspaces with many files is slow : : ################### 37%
Storage capacity can't keep up
with expanding data volumes : : ################# 33%
Distributing design files on
WAN consumes too much bandwidth : : ############# 25%
Cost of adding storage on
file servers too high : : ######### 18%
Other : : ### 5%
DESIGNER ISSUES WITH SYMBOLIC LINKS FOR DISK SPACE MANAGEMENT:
75% of the 524 engineers surveyed had experience with using symbolic links
(soft links) for disk space management. Only 28 percent of those 393
engineers using symlinks had no major issues with it.
72 percent of the symlinks users do cite major issues. Below is the
ranking of the major drawbacks they specified. Approximately half cite the
lack of control when using mirrors due to out-of-sync mirrors, or that with
mirrors the latest version is automatically "pushed" onto all designers.
Other issues include workspace instability when versions are removed from
network caches to recover space, and security problems caused by the
difficulty managing directory permissions.
Question #1: "What are your biggest issues with using
Symbolic Links for disk space management?"
Lack of control when using mirrors due to
automatic data push or out-of-sync mirrors : : ################ 49%
Workspace instability when versions removed
from network cache to recover space : : ########### 32%
Security problems caused by difficulty
managing directory permissions : : ########## 28%
Requires high performance
storage infrastructure : : ######## 25%
Network cache storage and # of
versions must be managed manually : : ######## 25%
Doesn't work on Microsoft Windows : : ####### 23%
Other : : # 2%
IC MANAGE VIEWS - STORAGE ACCELERATION SOFTWARE:
We've just launched our "IC Manage Views" storage acceleration SW, that
removes network bottlenecks to accelerate data access and reduce storage
requirements.
IC Manage Views is a version-aware, virtual file system that gives
engineers a fully populated view of their files, while only transferring
data-on-demand to a local file cache. It provides:
- Zero-Time Sync - a one gigabyte, 10,000 file workspace takes
only seconds to populate, allowing tools to run nearly immediately.
- Faster EDA tool performance - utilizes local storage for reads,
so designers get local speeds and avoid delays caused by network
latency. Utilizes network storage for writes for consistent data
access and storage.
- Drastically reduced total storage - automatically rotates least
recently used files to keep within workspace cache quotas.
Handles cache recovery for failures or errors.
IC Manage Views has none of the symbolic link limitations described in the
survey results. Designers maintain workspace file control and stability,
with fine-grained security configurations. No manual management of network
cache storage and number of versions. It's available on Linux now and will
be on Microsoft Windows by late 2012.
- Dean Drako
IC Manage, Inc. Los Gatos, CA
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