Method and apparatus for partitioning an interconnection medium in a partitioned multiprocessor computer system

US5884090A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Aruna V. Ramanan · Poughkeepsie, US
• Mark Gurevich · Poughkeepsie, US
• LeRoy R. Lundin · West Hurley, US
• David G. Folsom · Hopewell Junction, US
• Kevin J. Reilly · Kingston, US
• Mark G. Atkins · Arvada, US
• Robert Francis Bartfai · Tucson, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 17, 1997
• Grant date: Mar 16, 1999
• Expiry date: Jul 17, 2017

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F15/17381
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A method, associated apparatus and program product for partitioning a plurality of interconnection elements among disjoint partitions of processors in a computer system so as to interconnect the processors within each of the disjoint partitions, and to isolate the processors in each interconnected partition from processors in the other partitions. The interconnection elements may be arranged into groups including node coupling elements and link coupling elements and in larger systems may include intermediate groups having intermediate coupling elements. The partitioning of the interconnection elements begins with the interconnection of processors in the largest disjoint partition and proceeds by connecting the successive largest processor partitions whose interconnection elements share a group with the interconnect elements used for the previously interconnected processor partitions until no such interconnect elements on shared groups remain, subsequently the process is repeated until all processors in the disjoint partitions are interconnected.