Dynamically provisioning and scaling graphic processing units for data analytic workloads in a hardware cloud

US9916636B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Min Li · San Diego, US
• John A. Bivens · Ossining, US
• Koushik K. Das · New York, US
• Ruchi Mahindru · Elmsford, US
• HariGovind V. Ramasamy · Ossining, US
• Yaoping Ruan · White Plains, US
• Valentina Salapura · Chappaqua, US
• Eugen Schenfeld · Plainsboro, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Apr 8, 2016
• Grant date: Mar 13, 2018
• Expiry date: Apr 8, 2036

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06T15/005
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Server resources in a data center are disaggregated into shared server resource pools, including a graphics processing unit (GPU) pool. Servers are constructed dynamically, on-demand and based on workload requirements, by allocating from these resource pools. According to this disclosure, GPU utilization in the data center is managed proactively by assigning GPUs to workloads in a fine granularity and agile way, and de-provisioning them when no longer needed. In this manner, the approach is especially advantageous to automatically provision GPUs for data analytic workloads. The approach thus provides for a “micro-service” enabling data analytic workloads to automatically and transparently use GPU resources without providing (e.g., to the data center customer) the underlying provisioning details. Preferably, the approach dynamically determines the number and the type of GPUs to use, and then during runtime auto-scales the GPUs based on workload.