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Title: Template based parallel checkpointing in a massively parallel computer system

Patent ·
OSTI ID:985865

A method and apparatus for a template based parallel checkpoint save for a massively parallel super computer system using a parallel variation of the rsync protocol, and network broadcast. In preferred embodiments, the checkpoint data for each node is compared to a template checkpoint file that resides in the storage and that was previously produced. Embodiments herein greatly decrease the amount of data that must be transmitted and stored for faster checkpointing and increased efficiency of the computer system. Embodiments are directed to a parallel computer system with nodes arranged in a cluster with a high speed interconnect that can perform broadcast communication. The checkpoint contains a set of actual small data blocks with their corresponding checksums from all nodes in the system. The data blocks may be compressed using conventional non-lossy data compression algorithms to further reduce the overall checkpoint size.

Research Organization:
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
B519700
Assignee:
International Business Machines Corporation (Armonk, NY)
Patent Number(s):
7,478,278
Application Number:
11/106,010
OSTI ID:
985865
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (6)

Checkpoint/rollback in a distributed system using coarse-grained dataflow conference January 1994
System-level fault-tolerance in large-scale parallel machines with buffered coscheduling conference January 2004
MPICH-V: Toward a Scalable Fault Tolerant MPI for Volatile Nodes conference January 2002
ickp: a consistent checkpointer for multicomputers journal July 1994
CLIP: a checkpointing tool for message-passing parallel programs conference January 1997
Evaluation of checkpoint mechanisms for massively parallel machines conference June 1996