Machine templates for predetermined compute units

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11256649-B2
Application number	US-202016857941-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 24, 2020
Priority date	Apr 25, 2019
Publication date	Feb 22, 2022
Grant date	Feb 22, 2022

Abstract

Machine templates are described herein that provide for enhanced configuration and deployment of arrangements of physical computing components coupled over a communication fabric. In one example, a method includes presenting a user interface indicating a plurality of templates each specifying at least a predefined arrangement of physical computing components for inclusion in compute units, and receiving a user selection indicating a selected template among the plurality of templates to form a target compute unit. The method includes allocating to the target compute unit a set of physical computing components according to the selected template, and instructing a management entity to establish the target compute unit based at least on logical partitioning within a communication fabric communicatively coupling the set of physical computing components of the target compute unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
presenting a user interface indicating a plurality of templates each specifying at least a predefined arrangement of physical computing components for inclusion in compute units, wherein the physical computing components comprise one or more among central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), storage devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and network interface modules each separately coupled to at least a communication fabric such that the physical computing components can be arbitrarily arranged into the compute units;
receiving a user selection indicating a selected template among the plurality of templates to form a target compute unit;
allocating to the target compute unit a set of physical computing components according to the selected template; and
instructing a management entity to establish the target compute unit based on altering logical partitioning within at least the communication fabric communicatively coupling the set of physical computing components of the target compute unit.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of templates each describe device attributes of associated physical computing components and a set of communication connections between a host processor and other components indicated among the associated physical computing components.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the communication connections are specified as connection arrangements made over one or more communication fabrics comprising one or more communication switch circuits.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the one or more communication fabrics comprise at least one among a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) communication fabric, Compute Express Link (CXL) fabric, and Ethernet fabric.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in the user interface, presenting indications of one or more compute units already established;
in the user interface, presenting an option for creation of a new template based on a selected compute unit among the one or more compute units already established;
responsive to receiving a user selection for creation of a new template based on the selected compute unit, determining properties of the selected compute unit to generalize an arrangement of physical computing components into a specification for the new template; and
storing the specification of the new template for subsequent usage in creation of a compute unit based on an arrangement indicated by the new template.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in the user interface, presenting indications of physical computing component types includable in a new template;
receiving selections made by a user for inclusion of one or more of the physical computing component types within the new template;
determining properties of the selections to generalize an arrangement of the one or more of the physical computing components into a specification for the new template; and
storing the specification of the new template for subsequent usage in creation of a compute unit based at least on the arrangement indicated by the new template.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein presenting the indications of the physical computing component types comprise listing categories of the physical computing component types organized by at least one among properties of the physical computing component types, vendor names, component function, and component capability.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of templates each specify at least a software configuration to be deployed to an associated processing device, wherein the software configuration comprises one or more among operating systems, device drivers, and user applications; and
instructing the management entity to establish the target compute unit by further specifying the software configuration to be deployed for the target compute unit, wherein the software configuration is deployed by at least storing the software configuration in an allocated storage device accessible by an allocated processing device of the target compute unit.

9. An apparatus, comprising:
one or more computer readable storage media;
and
program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media that, based on being read and executed by a processing system, direct the processing system to at least:
present a user interface indicating a plurality of templates each specifying at least a predefined arrangement of physical computing components for inclusion in compute units, wherein the physical computing components comprise one or more among central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), storage devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and network interface modules each separately coupled to at least a communication fabric such that the physical computing components can be arbitrarily arranged into the compute units;
receive a user selection indicating a selected template among the plurality of templates to form a target compute unit;
allocate to the target compute unit a set of physical computing components according to the selected template; and
instruct a management entity to establish the target compute unit based on logical partitioning within at least the communication fabric communicatively coupling the set of physical computing components of the target compute unit.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of templates each describe device attributes of associated physical computing components and a set of communication connections between a host processor and other components indicated among the associated physical computing components.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the communication connections are specified as connection arrangements made over one or more communication fabrics comprising one or more communication switch circuits.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the one or more communication fabrics comprise at least one among a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) communication fabric, Compute Express Link (CXL) fabric, and Ethernet fabric.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , comprising further program instructions, based on being executed by the processing system, direct the processing system to at least:
in the user interface, present indications of one or more compute units already established;
in the user interface, present an option for creation of a new template based on a selected compute unit among the one or more compute units already established;
responsive to receiving a user selection for creation of a new template based on the selected compute unit, determine properties of the selected compute unit to generalize an arrangement of physical computing components into a specification for the new template; and
store the specification of the new template for subsequent usage in creation of a compute unit based on an arrangement indicated by the new template.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 , comprising further program instructions, based on being executed by the processing system, direct the processing system to at least:
in the user interface, present indications of physical computing component types includable in a new template;
receive selections made by a user for inclusion of one or more of the physical computing component types within the new template;
determine properties of the selections to generalize an arrangement of the one or more of the physical computing components into a specification for the new template; and
store the specification of the new template for subsequent usage in creation of a compute unit base

Assignees

• Liqid Inc

Inventors

• Cannata James Scott
• Clark Phillip
• Puri Sumit
• Schramm Bryan
• Nagel Bryan

Classifications

• G06F13/4221 Primary

  being an input/output bus, e.g. ISA bus, EISA bus, PCI bus, SCSI bus · CPC title

• G06F9/451

  Execution arrangements for user interfaces · CPC title

• G06F2213/0026

  PCI express · CPC title

• G06F9/5077

  Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources (specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455) · CPC title