Block allocation times in a computer system

• Main Authors: Bryant, Jay Symmes, Kolz, Daniel Paul, Patel, Dharmesh J
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 14.12.2010

A method and apparatus improves the block allocation time in a parallel computer system. A pre-load controller pre-loads blocks of hardware in a supercomputer cluster in anticipation of demand from a user application. In the preferred embodiments the pre-load controller determines when to pre-load the compute nodes and the block size to allocate the nodes based on pre-set parameters and previous use of the computer system. Further, in preferred embodiments each block of compute nodes in the parallel computer system has a stored hardware status to indicate whether the block is being pre-loaded, or already has been pre-loaded. In preferred embodiments, the hardware status is stored in a database connected to the computer's control system. In other embodiments, the compute nodes are remote computers in a distributed computer system.