Newsgroups: comp.parallel
From: karypis@i0.arc.umn.edu (George Karypis)
Subject: METIS: Unstructured Graph Partitioning and Sparse Matrix Ordering Software 
Keywords: graph partitioning, sparse matrix ordering
Organization: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 17:48:05 GMT
Message-ID: <DAsJzs.6Mq@news.cis.umn.edu>



   METIS: Unstructured Graph Partitioning and Sparse Matrix Ordering Software


We announce the release of the METIS software package for
partitioning unstructred graphs (unstructured finite element meshes)
and for producing fill reducing orderings of sparse matrices.
Release 1.0 of METIS is now available via WWW and ftp.

Application Domains:

Graph partitioning has extensive applications in many areas, including 
scientific computing, VLSI design, and task scheduling. The problem is 
to partition the vertices of a graph in k roughly equal parts, such that 
the number of edges connecting vertices in different parts is minimized.  
Graph partitioning is of particular importance in finite element 
computations on parallel computers, since a good partition significantly
reduces the amount of communication, increasing the performance.
Graph partitioning algorithms are also used to compute fill reducing orderings 
for sparse matrix factorization, and to increase the concurrency that 
can be exploited during parallel direct factorization.

What is METIS?

METIS is a set of programs that implement various graph partitioning 
algorithms that are based on the multilevel paradigm. 
The advantages of METIS compared to other similar packages are:

- Provides high quality partitions!
    The partitions produced by METIS are consistently 10% to 50% better than 
    those produced by spectral partitioning algorithms, and 5% to 15% better 
    than those produced by Chaco multilevel on a wide variety of graphs.

- It is extremely fast!
    METIS is 10 to 40 times faster than multilevel spectral bisection, and 
    2 to 6 times faster than Chaco multilevel for a wide variety of a graphs.
    Graphs with over 250,000 vertices can be partitioned in 256 parts, in 
    under a minute on scientific workstations. The run time of METIS is 
    comparable to (or even smaller than) the run time of geometric 
    partitioning algorithms that often produce much worse partitions.

- Provides low fill orderings!
    The orderings produced by METIS are significantly better than those 
    produced by multiple minimum degree, particularly for large finite 
    element graphs. Furthermore, unlike multiple minimum degree, the 
    elimination trees produced by METIS are highly suited for parallel direct 
    factorization.


METIS is freely distributed. Information on how to get the source code
is available on WWW at
  URL: http://www.cs.umn.edu/users/kumar/metis/metis.html

Alternatively, METIS can be obtained via anonymous ftp from
ftp.cs.umn.edu/dept/users/kumar/metis/metis-1.0.tar

Papers describing and analyzing the various algorithms implemented by 
METIS can be retrieved via WWW from:
    http://www.cs.umn.edu/users/kumar/papers/mlevel_serial.ps
    http://www.cs.umn.edu/users/kumar/papers/mlevel_analysis.ps
    http://www.cs.umn.edu/users/kumar/papers/mlevel_parallel.ps

Other related papers are available from
 http://www.cs.umn.edu/users/kumar/kumar.html

If you have any questions or problems obtaining METIS, send email to:
karypis@cs.umn.edu

--------------------------------------------------
George Karypis, email karypis@cs.umn.edu
Vipin Kumar, email kumar@cs.umn.edu
Department of Computer Science
University of Minnessota
Minneapolis, MN 55455
---------------------------------------------------

-- 
George Karypis, University of Minnessota, email karypis@cs.umn.edu
URL: http://www.cs.umn.edu/users/kumar/george/research.html



