External fault tolerant shared memory unit in a distributed multiprocessing system
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorBrian Wyld
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A distributed multiprocessing system, comprises several hosts connected to a network. Each host has a processing unit and internal memory accessed by the processing unit. In addition, each host further has an access device connected to a fault tolerant external memory unit by a fast connection. Each processing unit accesses the external memory unit transparently. The processing units of the distributed multiprocessing system thus share the same view of the external memory unit. This makes it possible to use symmetric multiprocessing memory sharing mechanisms, in a distributed multiprocessing system, due to the reduction of latency overheads by 4 or 5 orders of magnitude compared with standard DMP interconnect methods.
Claims10
A distributed multiprocessing system, comprising:
- a fault tolerant external memory unit;
- and
- at least two hosts connected to a network,
- wherein each host of the distributed multiprocessing system has a processing unit and an internal memory accessed by the processing unit;
- wherein each host further comprises an access device,
- wherein each access device is connected to the external memory unit through a respective memory bus and
- wherein each access device is connected with the internal memory of a respective host so that each access device provides a respective processing unit of a respective host with transparent access to the external memory unit via a respective memory bus.
A distributed multiprocessing system comprising:
- at least two hosts connected to a network, wherein each host has a processing unit and internal memory accessed by the processing unit;
- and
- a fault tolerant external memory unit, wherein each host further comprises an access device connected to the external memory unit, and the access device provides the processing unit of the host with a transparent access to the external memory unit;
- and
- wherein the processing unit has an access time to the external memory unit at least two orders of magnitude smaller than an access time to another host through the network.
A distributed multiprocessing system, comprising:
- at least two hosts connected to a network, wherein each host of the distributed multiprocessing system has a processing unit and internal memory accessed by the processing unit;
- and,
- a fault tolerant external memory unit, wherein each host further comprises an access device connected to the external memory unit, and the access device provides the processing unit of the host with a transparent access to the external memory unit,
- wherein the access device has a memory-mapped connection to the processing unit and a driver connected to both the memory-mapped connection and the external memory unit.
A distributed multiprocessing system, comprising:
- at least two hosts connected to a network, wherein each host of the distributed multiprocessing system has a processing unit and internal memory accessed by the processing unit;
- and,
- a fault tolerant external memory unit, wherein each host further comprises an access device connected to the external memory unit, and the access device provides the processing unit of the host with a transparent access to the external memory unit,
- wherein the access device has an internal memory module-like connection connected to the processing unit through a memory bus, and a driver connected to both the internal memory module-like connection and the external memory unit.
A distributed multiprocessing system, comprising:
- at least two hosts connected to a network, wherein each host of the distributed multiprocessing system has a processing unit and internal memory accessed by the processing unit;
- and,
- a fault tolerant external memory unit, wherein each host further comprises an access device connected to the external memory unit, and the access device provides the processing unit of the host with a transparent access to the external memory unit, wherein the external memory unit comprises:
- at least two access server devices, each connected to the access device of a host;
- and,
- a fault tolerant memory connected to each server device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.