Fast backup of compute nodes in failing midplane by copying to nodes in backup midplane via link chips operating in pass through and normal modes in massively parallel computing system

摘要

A method and apparatus for fast backup of a set of compute nodes to save the state of the software in a parallel computer system. A fast backup mechanism in the service node of the computer system configures a set of nodes to be used for a backup and when needed uses the network hardware to perform a fast backup from node to node from an original set of nodes to the backup set of nodes. In the preferred embodiments a the fast backup is done with respect to a midplane or rack of nodes copied to a backup rack of nodes.