Patent ID: 8146094

Claim:
A method for ensuring complete delivery of a global shared memory (GSM) message from an originating task on a first node coupled to a network fabric of a distributed network via a host fabric interface (HFI), to a target task on a second node also coupled to the network fabric via a HFI, said method comprising: receiving a first GSM packet of a plurality of GSM packets generated from a single GSM message being sent from the originating task; assigning a sequence number to track receipt of the GSM message from the originating task, said sequence number being unique from other sequence numbers assigned to GSM messages from the same originating task that have not been completely received; updating a count value within a tuple of the first GSM packet, the count value comprising a count including the first GSM packet and one or more subsequently received GSM packets of the plurality of GSM packets that have been received for the GSM message; and determining when receipt of the GSM message is complete by comparing the count value within the tuple of the first GSM packet with a count total retrieved from the packet header, which indicates a total number of GSM packets being transmitted for the single GSM message.