Execution of work units in a heterogeneous computing environment

• US 8,566,831 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2011
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Jellinek, Ivan, Poggesi, Alberto, Sumrall, Anthony C., Thackrey, Thomas A.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, VAN H
• Application Number:
  US13/014,123
• Publication Number:
  US 20120192191A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,000 Days
• Field of Search: 718/100, 718/102, 718/103, 718/104
• US Class Current: 718/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/509 Offload
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities

Abstract

Work units are transparently offloaded from a main processor to offload processing systems for execution. For a particular work unit, a suitable offload processing system is selected to execute the work unit. This includes determining the requirements of the work unit, including, for instance, the hardware and software requirements; matching those requirements against a set of offload processing systems with an arbitrary set of available resources; and determining if a suitable offload processing system is available. If a suitable offload processing system is available, the work unit is scheduled to execute on that offload processing system with no changes to the work unit itself. Otherwise, the work unit may execute on the main processor or wait to be executed on an offload processing system.

Claims

1. A computer program product for facilitating execution of work units in a computing environment, said computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising;

analyzing, by an analyzer executing on a processor, one or more resource requirements of a work unit to be executed;

determining, based on the analyzing, whether the work unit is to be executed on the processor or an offload processing system different from the processor, the offload processing system and processor being heterogeneous of one another;

obtaining, based on the determining indicating the work unit is to be executed on the offload processing system, an indication of one or more offload processing systems satisfying one or more criteria for execution of the work unit;

checking whether at least one offload processing system of the indication of one or more offload processing systems has sufficient resources to execute the work unit;

selecting, based on the checking specifying at least one offload processing system that has sufficient resources, a selected offload processing system to execute the work unit; and

assigning the work unit to be executed on the selected offload processing system for execution, wherein the selected offload processing system has at least one of a different operating system, a different architecture or a different external attachment from the processor.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the checking specifies a plurality of offload processing systems having sufficient resources, and wherein the selecting chooses the offload processing system based on a best fit criteria.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the selecting based on the best fit criteria comprises:

determining which one or more offload processing systems of the plurality of offload processing systems having sufficient resources have a highest cost of additional resources not needed by the work unit; and

removing those one or more offload processing systems from consideration in the selecting.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the work unit is part of an application to be executed, the application having a plurality of work units, and wherein the method further comprises executing one work unit of the application on the selected offload processing system and another work unit of the application on the processor.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the processor and the offload processing system are loosely coupled, wherein there is a communications connection between them but otherwise an absence of sharing of resources.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises modifying, based on the selecting, control language of the work unit to enable the work unit to execute on the selected offload processing system.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises initiating execution of the work unit, the initiating comprising:

determining whether the work unit is to execute on the selected offload processing system; and

based on the determining indicating the work unit is to execute on the selected offload processing system, providing the work unit to the selected offload processing system.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the providing employs an offload support agent, the offload support agent interfacing between the processor and the selected offload processing system.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

based on the checking indicating that no offload processing system of the indication of one or more offload processing systems has sufficient resources to execute the work unit, waiting a predefined amount of time; and

repeating the checking, based on waiting the predefined amount of time.

10. A computer system for facilitating execution of work units in a computing environment, said computer system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor in communications with the memory, wherein the computer system is configured to perform a method, said method comprising;

analyzing, by an analyzer executing on a processor, one or more resource requirements of a work unit to be executed;

determining, based on the analyzing, whether the work unit is to be executed on the processor or an offload processing system different from the processor, the offload processing system and processor being heterogeneous of one another;

obtaining, based on the determining indicating the work unit is to be executed on the offload processing system, an indication of one or more offload processing systems satisfying one or more criteria for execution of the work unit;

checking whether at least one offload processing system of the indication of one or more offload processing systems has sufficient resources to execute the work unit;

selecting, based on the checking specifying at least one offload processing system that has sufficient resources, a selected offload processing system to execute the work unit; and

assigning the work unit to be executed on the selected offload processing system for execution, wherein the selected offload processing system has at least one of a different operating system, a different architecture or a different external attachment from the processor.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the checking specifies a plurality of offload processing systems having sufficient resources, and wherein the selecting chooses the offload processing system based on a best fit criteria.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the selecting based on the best fit criteria comprises:

determining which one or more offload processing systems of the plurality of offload processing systems having sufficient resources have a highest cost of additional resources not needed by the work unit; and

removing those one or more offload processing systems from consideration in the selecting.

13. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the work unit is part of an application to be executed, the application having a plurality of work units, and wherein the method further comprises executing one work unit of the application on the selected offload processing system and another work unit of the application on the processor.

14. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises initiating execution of the work unit, the initiating comprising:

determining whether the work unit is to execute on the selected offload processing system; and

based on the determining indicating the work unit is to execute on the selected offload processing system, providing the work unit to the selected offload processing system.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the providing employs an offload support agent, the offload support agent interfacing between the processor and the selected offload processing system.

16. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

based on the checking indicating that no offload processing system of the indication of one or more offload processing systems has sufficient resources to execute the work unit, waiting a predefined amount of time; and

repeating the checking, based on waiting the predefined amount of time.

17. A method of facilitating execution of work units in a computing environment, said method comprising:

analyzing, by an analyzer executing on a processor, one or more resource requirements of a work unit to be executed;

determining, based on the analyzing, whether the work unit is to be executed on the processor or an offload processing system different from the processor, the offload processing system and processor being heterogeneous of one another;

obtaining, based on the determining indicating the work unit is to be executed on the offload processing system, an indication of one or more offload processing systems satisfying one or more criteria for execution of the work unit;

checking whether at least one offload processing system of the indication of one or more offload processing systems has sufficient resources to execute the work unit;

selecting, based on the checking specifying at least one offload processing system that has sufficient resources, a selected offload processing system to execute the work unit; and

assigning the work unit to be executed on the selected offload processing system for execution, wherein the selected offload processing system has at least one of a different operating system, a different architecture or a different external attachment from the processor.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the checking specifies a plurality of offload processing systems having sufficient resources, and wherein the selecting chooses the offload processing system based on a best fit criteria.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the selecting based on the best fit criteria comprises:

determining which one or more offload processing systems of the plurality of offload processing systems having sufficient resources have a highest cost of additional resources not needed by the work unit; and

removing those one or more offload processing systems from consideration in the selecting.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising initiating execution of the work unit, the initiating comprising:

determining whether the work unit is to execute on the selected offload processing system; and

based on the determining indicating the work unit is to execute on the selected offload processing system, providing the work unit to the selected offload processing system.