Configuring compute nodes in a parallel computer using remote direct memory access (‘RDMA’), the parallel computer comprising a plurality of compute nodes coupled for data communications via one or more data communications networks, including: initiating, by a source compute node of the parallel computer, an RDMA broadcast operation to broadcast binary configuration information to one or more target compute nodes in the parallel computer; preparing, by each target compute node, the target compute node for receipt of the binary configuration information from the source compute node; transmitting, by each target compute node, a ready message to the target compute node, the ready message indicating that the target compute node is ready to receive the binary configuration information from the source compute node; and performing, by the source compute node, an RDMA broadcast operation to write the binary configuration information into memory of each target compute node.