Patent ID: 7680048

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for inter-nodal packet routing in a parallel computer system, said parallel computer system comprising a plurality of nodes arranged in a network of node-to-node communications links for inter-nodal communications, each node comprising at least one processor for executing a respective application sub-process of at least one application and a nodal memory, said method comprising the steps of: at each of a plurality of said nodes of said parallel computer system, automatically routing each of a plurality of packets from a respective source node to a respective destination node along said node-to-node communications links of said network using a respective local automated routing strategy of the respective node, wherein at least some of said packets must traverse one or more respective intermediate nodes between the respective source node and the respective destination node, each said respective local automated routing strategy comprising a respective set of one or more routing rules used by the corresponding said node to automatically select a respective routing for each packet routed by the corresponding said node; altering said respective local automated routing strategy of at least some nodes of said plurality of nodes during execution of said at least one application by altering at least one routing rule of each said set of routing rules corresponding to a node of the at least some nodes, wherein said altering comprises the steps of: periodically obtaining network usage data with respect to usage of said network of node-to-node communications links; analyzing most recently obtained said network usage data to identify a respective optimum local automated routing strategy for each node of said at least some nodes; and communicating results of said analyzing step to each node of said at least some of nodes for implementation as an altered routing strategy; and responsive to said altering step, at each of said at least some nodes for which said respective local automated routing strategy was altered, thereafter routing each of a plurality of packets from a respective source node to a respective destination node along said node-to-node communications links of said network using a respective local automated routing strategy as altered by said altering step.