Gang scheduling for resource allocation in a cluster computing environment

摘要

A system and method whereby a gang scheduling entity assembles a schedule of application tasks to be run on a plurality of distributed parallel processors for pre-set time intervals. The scheduling information, including an ordered set of applications and the length of the time interval, are provided to each of the node level schedulers for the relevant processors, and the node level schedulers assure that the tasks of the applications are executed, with context switching between tasks being controlled at the node level. Tasks from multiple applications can be scheduled simultaneously, with time sharing and space sharing being utilized in the schedule. The inventive system is dynamically scalable, with the gang scheduling entity restructuring the matrix schedule should dynamic re-partitioning result in addition or deletion of processors.