Abstract: Described herein is technology for, among other things virus scanning for block-level distributed application management. The technology involves storing blocks of a root image on a first storage unit and storing blocks of leaf images on respective second storage units. The leaf images include additional data blocks not previously contained in the root image and changes made by respective compute nodes to the blocks of the root image. The technology includes receiving a notification from one of the compute nodes that the root image has been scanned for viruses and providing the notification to other compute nodes.

Abstract: Client node caching in a global file service. A client node receives a leaf image from a remote storage node storing a base image that is read-only accessible to the client node. The leaf image has a portion of the base image modified by the client node. The client node stores the leaf image in a cache on the client node. Unmodified portions of the base image are accessed from the remote storage node. Modified portions of the base image are accessed from the cache. The leaf images may comprise a branch modification log having portions of the base image modified by the client node and a metadata structure. The metadata structure has pointers to the modified data in the branch modification log and pointers to data unmodified by the client node in the base image. Alternatively, the leaf images may comprise a change volume for changes made to the base image by the client node.

Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention is directed to an apparatus for sharing memory among a plurality of compute nodes. The apparatus includes a memory, a plurality of interfaces for coupling the apparatus with the compute nodes, a switching fabric coupled with the interfaces, and a processor coupled with the switching fabric and the memory. The processor is operable to assign a portion of the memory to a particular compute node for exclusive access by the particular compute node.

Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention is directed to a system for distributing an application environment to a compute node. The system includes a first storage unit for storing blocks of a root image of the compute node and a second storage unit for storing a leaf image comprising new data blocks and changes to the blocks of the root image. The system further includes a union block device for interfacing between the compute node and the first and second storage units to distribute the application environment to the compute node. The union block device creates the application environment by merging the blocks of the root image stored on the first storage unit with the leaf image stored on the second storage unit.

Abstract: Present invention unity parallel processing systems and methods facilitate flexible utilization of sequential program applications in a distributed multi-computer parallel processing environment. The new unity parallel processing architecture enables multiple processing nodes (e.g., SMPs) to perform multi-thread processing within the multiple processing nodes while providing a shared virtual global memory space. Symmetric multiprocessors run shared memory applications with modified runtime guidance directives that permit the memories to emulate a virtual global memory across the plurality of symmetric multiprocessors. Within each SMP node, programs utilize multiple threads according to directives and library calls. Across multiple SMP nodes, each SMP node is treated as a single process with one-way communication to other SMP nodes.