Optimized peer-to-peer file transfers on a multi-node computer system

摘要

A method and apparatus performs peer-to-peer file transfers on a High Performance Computing (HPC) cluster such as a Beowulf cluster. A peer-to-peer file tracker (PPFT) allows operating system, application and data files to be moved from a pre-loaded node to another node of the HPC cluster. A peer-to-peer (PTP) client is loaded into the nodes to facilitate PTP file transfers to reduce loading on networks, network switches and file servers to reduce the time needed to load the nodes with these files to increase overall efficiency of the multi-node computing system. The selection of the nodes participating in file transfers can be based on network topology, network utilization, job status and predicted network/computer utilization. This selection can be dynamic, changing during the file transfers as resource conditions change. The policies used to choose resources can be configured by an administrator.

主权项

1. A multi-node computer cluster comprising:
a plurality of nodes that each comprise a processor and memory; a network with network switches connecting the plurality of nodes; a service node connected to the plurality of nodes; a peer-to-peer file tracker in the service node that manages the plurality of nodes to accomplish a peer-to-peer file transfer between at least two of the plurality of nodes over the network; a peer-to-peer client residing in the at least two of the plurality of nodes, where the peer-to-peer client manages data flow in the peer-to-peer file transfer; and wherein the peer-to-peer client uses resource attributes from a resource manager and from a scheduler received in a file tracker update to dynamically adjust which nodes of the plurality of nodes participate in the file transfer while the file transfer is in progress by restarting segments of the transfer from a new source node.