Reduced number of counters for reliable messaging

A computer readable storage medium storing a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform a method of message passing between processes running on a plurality of computing nodes connected by a network, the method comprising:

• maintaining a shared memory on a first node by first sender processes running on the first node, the shared memory storing a sequence number counter per destination process, the first sender processes sharing the sequence number counter for sending messages to the destination process, wherein multiple sequence number counters are maintained for multiple destination processes respectively;
• incrementing by a sender process of the first sender processes, the sequence number counter in the shared memory for the sender process to send a message to the destination process, wherein the sender process sends a data packet comprising the message and at least a sequence number specified by the sequence number counter;
• maintaining by a first receiver process, a local memory counter associated with a sending node from which the first receiver process is receiving messages, the local memory counter maintained on the first node, wherein a plurality of first receiver processes run on the first node and each of the plurality of first receiver processes separately maintains a local memory counter per sending node;
• and
• delivering by the first receiver process, the incoming data packets in sequence number order.

A system comprising:

• a hardware processor;
• and
• a memory coupled with the hardware processor;
• and
• a communication interface coupled to the hardware process via which the hardware processor communicates with another computing node in a network of interconnected computing nodes,
• the hardware processor operable to run a plurality of sender processes, the sender processes operable to maintain a shared memory on the memory, the shared memory operable to store a sequence number counter per destination process, the sender processes sharing the sequence number counter for sending messages to the destination process, wherein multiple sequence number counters are maintained for multiple destination processes respectively, a sender process of the plurality of sender processes operable to increment the sequence number counter in the shared memory in sending a message to the destination process, wherein the sender process is operable to send a data packet comprising the message and at least a sequence number specified by the sequence number counter;
• the hardware processor operable to run receiver processes, a receiver process of the receiver processes operable to maintain a local memory counter associated with a sending node from which the receiver process is receiving messages, the local memory counter maintained on the memory, wherein each of the receiver processes separately maintains a local memory counter per sending node, the receiver process further operable to deliver the incoming data packets in sequence number order.