International Business Machines Corporation

James H H Chou

Malcolm Scott Allen-Ware

Kevin Allen Hughes

Marc Cochran

Jason Garth Pearce

Jeffrey Bloom

Alexander T Iannicelli

Alan Ross

Preparing a plurality of computer nodes to boot in a multidimensional fabric network is provided. The method includes a fabric processor (FP) generating a plurality of DHCP discovery packets using a baseboard management controller (BMC) MAC address, and placing them into the multi-host switch. A dedicated connection directly connects the BMC and the FP. All ports of the multi-host switch broadcast DHCP discovery packets into the fabric network. The BMC, FP, and switch are all within the node. A designated exit node inside the fabric connects to a provisioning node not part of the fabric. The exit node relays DHCP traffic from the fabric. A location-based IP address uniquely identifies the nodes' physical location in the fabric. The IP address is calculated based on inventory records describing physical location information about the nodes. The FP calculates a host MAC address using its IP address and configures it onto the switch.

Preparing computer nodes to boot in a multidimensional torus fabric network

Growing community of inventors

Austin, TX, United States of America

James H H Chou