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How Does Page-Fault DSM Work?

• The basics:
  • Shared objects are allocated in shared space
  • Each page in the shared space is "protected"
  • Each access to a shared page causes a fault
  • The fault is caught by a signal handler that determines the type of reference
  • Using some "cache coherence" protocol, the handler acts to make the page coherent
• Weak/lazy coherence and ownership protocols reduce the number of messages needed