The present invention relates to the computer field, and in particular, to a computer subsystem and a computer system in the computer field.
From the perspective of system architecture, current business servers may be generally categorized into three types, namely, the symmetric multi-processor (Symmetric Multi-Processor, “SMP” for short) structure, the non-uniform memory access (Non-Uniform Memory Access, “NUMA” for short) structure, and the massive parallel processing (Massive Parallel Processing, “MPP” for short) structure.
A so-called server with the symmetric multi-processor structure refers to a server, in which multiple central processing units (Central Processing Unit, “CPU” for short) work symmetrically and do not have a primary-secondary or master-slave relationship, each CPU shares the same physical memory, and the time needed by each CPU to access any address in the memory is the same. However, a server of this type has very limited performance in scalability. A server with the NUMA structure is basically characterized by having multiple CPU modules, each CPU module is formed of multiple (for example, four) CPUs and has an independent local memory and I/O (Input/Output) slots; nodes may be interconnected and exchange information through an interconnection module; therefore, the speed of a CPU accessing a local memory is much higher than that of accessing a remote memory (a memory of another node in the system); furthermore, for a server of this type, when the number of CPU increases, the performance of the server cannot be improved linearly. In a server with the MPP structure, multiple servers with the SMP structure are connected by a certain node interconnection network, each node of a server with the SMP structure may run an operating system and database thereof, but a CPU in each node cannot access the memory of another node, and information exchange between nodes is implemented through an interconnection network between the nodes.
At present, a business server usually adopts a multi-node interconnection structure. In the multi-node interconnection structure, each node is a data processing module, the data processing module includes multiple (for example, two) CPUs that are interconnected and a node controller (Node Controller, “NC” for short). The nodes or data processing modules are connected through an interconnection module, and the interconnection module is usually formed of multiple interconnection chips, such as crossbar switches (Crossbar Switch, “Xbar” for short). Therefore, for the server formed by connecting nodes or data processing modules through an interconnection module, not only many kinds and a large quantity of interconnection chips are required, and the connection is complicated, but also the reliability of the system is poor, and the delay of the inter-node accessing is long, thereby affecting the running efficiency of the system.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a computer subsystem and a computer system which are capable of reducing the kinds and the number of interconnection chips, and at the same time simplifying an interconnection structure of a system, improving reliability of the system, and shortening delay of inter-node accessing, thereby improving running efficiency of the system.
In one aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a computer subsystem. The computer subsystem includes L composite nodes, each composite node includes M basic nodes, each basic node includes N central processing units CPUs and one node controller NC, where any two CPUs in each basic node are interconnected, each CPU in each basic node is connected to the NC in the basic node, the NC in each basic node has a routing function, any two NCs in the M basic nodes are interconnected, and a connection between the L composite nodes formed through a connection between NCs of different composite nodes enables communication between any two NCs to require three hops at most, where L is a natural number and L is greater than or equal to 4, M is a natural number and M is greater than or equal to 1, and N is a natural number and N is greater than or equal to 2.
In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a computer system. The computer system includes two identical computer subsystems according to the embodiment of the present invention, where a first computer subsystem or a second computer subsystem includes L composite nodes, each composite node includes M basic nodes, each basic node includes N central processing units CPUs and one node controller NC, any two CPUs in each basic node are interconnected, each CPU in each basic node is connected to the NC in the basic node, the NC in each basic node has a routing function, any two NCs in the M basic nodes are interconnected, and a connection between the L composite nodes formed through a connection between NCs of different composite nodes enables communication between any two NCs to require three hops at most, where L is a natural number and L is greater than or equal to 4, M is a natural number and M is greater than or equal to 1, and N is a natural number and N is greater than or equal to 2. At least one NC in each composite node of the first computer subsystem and an NC of a corresponding basic node in a corresponding composite node of the second computer subsystem are interconnected.
Based on the foregoing technical solutions, in the computer subsystem and the computer system according to embodiments of the present invention, by directly connecting an NC having a routing function to a CPU, Xbar interconnection chips are avoided, thereby reducing the kinds and the number of interconnection chips, and at the same time simplifying an interconnection structure of a system, and improving the reliability of the system. Furthermore, through the connections between NCs, communication between any two NCs needs three hops at most, thereby shortening the delay of inter-node accessing and improving the running efficiency of the system.
To illustrate the technical solutions according to the embodiments of the present invention more clearly, the accompanying drawings for describing the embodiments of the present invention are introduced briefly in the following. Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and persons skilled in the art may derive other drawings from the accompanying drawings without creative efforts.
The technical solutions according to the embodiments of the present invention are clearly and completely described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings. Apparently, the embodiments in the following description are a part rather than all of the embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by persons skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
Specifically, for example, as shown in
It should be understood that the embodiment of the present invention is merely described by taking an example of the computer subsystem 100 shown in
In the computer subsystem according to the embodiment of the present invention, by directly connecting an NC having a routing function to a CPU, Xbar interconnection chips can be avoided, so that the kinds and the number of interconnection chips are reduced, and at the same time the interconnection structure of the system is simplified to avoid a higher failure rate caused by complicated connections, thereby improving the reliability of the system. Furthermore, through the connections between the NCs, the communication between any two NCs needs three hops at most, thereby shortening the delay of inter-node accessing and improving the running efficiency of the system.
In an embodiment of the present invention, each basic node may include N CPUs and an NC, where N is a natural number and N is greater than or equal to 2. For example, as shown by (A) in
It should be understood that that each basic node has a routing function refers to that an NC in each basic node is capable of routing information from an NC of a first basic node connected to the basic node to an NC of a second basic node connected to the basic node. Because the NC has the routing function, in the computer subsystem, not only the kinds and the number of interconnection chips can be reduced, but also the delay of inter-node accessing can be shortened at the same time and the running efficiency of the system is improved.
Alternatively, as shown in
It should be understood that the connection between a CPU and a CPU, the connection between a CPU and an NC, and the connection between an NC and an NC in different composite nodes may all adopt an interconnection technology in the related art. For example, the connection between a CPU and a CPU and the connection between a CPU and an NC adopt the quick path interconnect (Quick Path Interconnect, “QPI” for short) technology, and the connection between an NC and an NC in different composite nodes may also adopt the QPI technology.
It should also be understood that, in the embodiment of the present invention, descriptions are made by taking an example of a basic node including one NC; but the embodiment of present invention is not limited to this, each basic node of a computer subsystem according to the embodiment of the present invention may include multiple NCs, for example, each basic node includes at least two CPUs and at least one NC.
In an embodiment of the present invention, each composite node may include M basic nodes, where M is a natural number and M is greater than or equal to 1, and any two NCs in the M basic nodes are interconnected. For example, as shown by (A) and (B) in
It should be understood that because any two NCs in M basic nodes are interconnected, and any two NCs are capable of directly communicating with each other in each composite node, that is, the communication between any two NCs needs only one hop. Therefore, the delay of accessing between composite nodes can be further shortened and the running efficiency of the system is improved.
In an embodiment of the present invention, a computer subsystem may include L composite nodes, where L is a nature number and L is greater than or equal to 4; the L composite nodes are connected through connections between NCs of different composite nodes, and communication between any two NCs needs three hops at most.
It should be understood that in embodiments of the present invention, computer subsystems each including L composite nodes are always presented in a three-dimensional architecture to better display a connection relationship between composite nodes. In actual applications, the computer subsystem may be arranged in a plane or arranged according to a three-dimensional structure, which is not limited in the present invention.
In the embodiment of the present invention, the connection between different composite nodes enables the communication between any two NCs to require three hops at most. For a case in which each composite node includes only one basic node, optionally, any two NCs in the L composite nodes are interconnected. As shown in
Optionally, as shown in
When each composite includes at least two basic nodes, optionally, NCs of corresponding basic nodes in any two composite nodes are interconnected. For example, as shown in
Similarly,
For the computer subsystem 400 shown in
Therefore, in the computer subsystem according to the embodiment of the present invention, by directly connecting an NC having a routing function to a CPU, Xbar interconnection chips can be avoided, so that the kinds and the number of interconnection chips can be reduced, and at the same time the interconnection structure of the system can be simplified to avoid a higher failure rate caused by complicated connections, thereby improving the reliability of the system. Furthermore, through the connections between the NCs, the communication between any two NCs needs three hops at most, thereby shortening the delay of inter-node accessing and improving the running efficiency of the system.
In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer system. The computer system is described below with reference to
Specifically, for example, as shown in
In the embodiment of the present invention, each basic node of a computer subsystem may include two CPUs and one NC. Optionally, a computer subsystem may include eight composite nodes. Optionally, an NC in each basic node of a computer subsystem is capable of routing information from an NC of a first basic node connected to the basic node to an NC of a second basic node connected to the basic node. Optionally, when each composite node includes one basic node, any two NCs in the L composite nodes of the computer subsystem are interconnected. Optionally, when each composite node includes one basic node, each NC in the L composite nodes of the computer subsystem and other three NCs in the L composite nodes are interconnected, which enables communication between any two NCs in the L composite nodes to needs two hops at most. Optionally, when M is greater than or equal to 2, NCs of corresponding basic nodes in any two composite nodes of a computer subsystem are interconnected.
It should be understood that the embodiment of the present invention is described by taking an example of a computer subsystem including eight composite nodes, in which each basic node includes two CPUs and one NC, but the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, when the computer system shown in
Therefore, in the computer system according to the embodiment of the present invention, through the interconnection of NCs of corresponding basic nodes in corresponding composite nodes of two identical computer subsystems, not only the kinds and the number of interconnection chips can be reduced, and the interconnection structure of the system can be simplified to avoid a higher failure rate caused by complicated connections, thereby enhancing the reliability of the system and improving the running efficiency of the system. Furthermore, the number of CPUs of an interconnected system may be increased in an efficient way, the interconnection of CPUs is simplified, and the delay of inter-node accessing is shortened.
Optionally, each NC of each composite node of the first computer subsystem and an NC of a corresponding basic node in a composite node of the second computer subsystem are interconnected.
For example, as shown in
It should be understood that the computer system corresponding to
Similarly,
Therefore, in the computer system according to the embodiment of the present invention, through the interconnection of NCs of corresponding basic nodes in corresponding composite nodes of two identical computer subsystems, the number of CPUs of an interconnected system may be increased in an efficient way, the interconnection of CPUs is simplified, the reliability of the system can be improved, and the delay of inter-node accessing is shortened, thereby improving the running efficiency of the system.
It should be understood that the embodiment of the present invention is illustrated with an example where two identical computer subsystems form a computer system, but three or more identical computer subsystems may also form a computer system, where, optionally, each NC in each composite node of each computer subsystem and an NC of a corresponding basic node in a corresponding composite node of each of other computer subsystems are interconnected.
It should be understood that although the present invention has been described above in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and exemplary embodiments, the present invention is not limited to this. Equivalent modifications or replacements may be made to the embodiments of the present invention by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and essence of the present invention, and these modifications or replacements all fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN2011/076279, filed on Jun. 24, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20130067197 A1 | Mar 2013 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/CN2011/076279 | Jun 2011 | US |
Child | 13670718 | US |