Patent ID: 8194638
Filing Date: 2012-06-05
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of communicating comprising: receiving a data transfer at a processing node in a multi-node parallel computer processing system comprising at least two distinct and tightly coupled complementary types of communication networks operating simultaneously; wherein at least one of the communication networks comprises a packet switch network and at least one of the communication networks comprises a circuit switch network comprising mix of global circuit switches and local packet switches; wherein each network comprises a plurality of tightly coupled clusters of processing nodes, and the packet switch network has one-tenth a bandwidth of the circuit switching network; wherein each processing node is part of a cluster and is connected to an intra-cluster network which passes communication packets between all processing nodes of each cluster; wherein each processing node comprises one or more inter-cluster opto-electronic links, connected with protocol processing hubs, where sharing of each processing node of other processing nodes optical links is done by passing through the inter cluster packet switch network; wherein the processing nodes also comprise processors, local memory and local cluster interconnects; wherein the processing nodes are connected to the packet switch networks via a plurality of electronic links; determining whether to route the data transfer to the packet switch network or the circuits witch network; routing the data transfer to the circuit switch network for handling long-lived bulk data transfers, using optical switches, and routing the data to the packet switch network for processing transient communication packets including collectives and short-lived data transfers; when a circuit exists between two clusters: sharing the existing circuit and using said existing circuit for other requests to route data to the processing node in the circuit connected clusters, by passing through the cluster's packet switching network of source s and destination d; routing the data transfer to the circuit switch network; and wherein the network interface interfaces with a plurality of circuit switched networks using a circuit switching mode; wherein at least one of the communication networks comprises a packet switch network and at least one of the communication networks comprises a circuit switch network comprising a mix of global circuit switches and local packet switches; wherein the processing nodes are connected to the packet switch networks via a plurality of electronic links; wherein each network comprises a plurality of tightly coupled processing nodes; wherein the electronic packet switching network has one-tenth a bandwidth of the circuit switching network; a switch interconnecting the processing nodes, and handling data transfers that route the data transfer to the circuit switched network for handling long-lived bulk data transfers, using optical switches, and route the data to the electronic packet switching switched network for processing transient communication packets including collectives and short-lived data transfers; and a plurality of electronic packet switching networks, also interconnecting the processing nodes, for handling data transfers that do not meet one or more criteria; and wherein the circuit switching network and the electronic packet switched network operate simultaneously; wherein each processing node is configured to perform: receiving a data transfer routing all subsequent data transfers between source s and destination d to said circuit switch network; sending the data transfer to the packet switch network for routing if the data transfer falls below a threshold; sending all subsequent data transfers between source s and destination d to said packet switch network; and wherein sending the data transfer is a decision made dynamically at run-time.