Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP)

Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) is a computing architecture in which two or more processors are attached to a single memory and operating system (OS) instance. SMP combines multiple processors to complete a process with the help of a host OS, which manages processor allocation, execution and management.

SMP is primarily implemented in resource-intensive computing environments that require high computing power to execute program and application tasks and processes. This involves the joint installation of two or processors on one machine.

SMP combines hardware and software multiprocessing. The hardware provides raw computing power, and the software manages the segregation, selection and distribution of the hardware processor. SMP hardware capabilities deal with multiple processors, data buses and physical memory support. SMP software capabilities are responsible for OS support, which manages the execution workload of application specific processes over the distributed processing architecture.