Abstract: Simulation is an important tool for performance evaluation of computer system. This paper focused on parallel performance simulation of large scale parallel computer systems and message passing applications. Firstly we summarued some key techniques and state of the art in the research area, then we gave a detailed introduction about several representative parallel simulators, and based on the trend of parallel computer system and its application we discussed some challenging problems and useful suggestions for further research of parallel simulator in the end.

Key words: Parallel simulation, Parallel computer, Message passing application