Coordinating FPGA services using cascaded FPGA service managers

A method for coordinating services provided by field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), comprising:

• hosting, by a hypervisor that manages a first virtual machine, a first FPGA service manager instance for loading instances of binary images for FPGA services into respective regions of a first FPGA;
• hosting, by the first virtual machine, a second FPGA service manager instance, the second FPGA service manager instance instantiated at a lower level in a software stack than a level in the software stack at which the first FPGA service manager instance is instantiated;
• receiving, by the second FPGA service manager instance, a request for a first FPGA service on behalf of a software application running in the first virtual machine;
• sending, by the second FPGA service manager instance to the first FPGA service manager instance, a first query to determine whether a binary image instance for the first FPGA service has been loaded on the first FPGA;
• receiving, by the first FPGA service manager instance, the first query;
• and
• providing, by the first FPGA service manager instance to the second FPGA service manager instance in response to a determination that a binary image instance for the first FPGA service has been loaded on the first FPGA, information to facilitate the use of the first FPGA service by the software application running in the first virtual machine.

A system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a memory subsystem, wherein the memory subsystem stores instructions executable by the one or more processors that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a first field-programmable gate array (FPGA) service manager instance;
• wherein the first FPGA service manager instance comprises:
• a first interface through which to communicate with a second FPGA service manager instance instantiated at a higher level in a software stack in the system than a level in the software stack at which the first FPGA service manager instance is instantiated;
• a binary image library in which to store binary images for FPGA services;
• and
• an FPGA device manager to load instances of binary images for FPGA services into respective regions of a first FPGA for the benefit of software applications executing in the system;
• wherein the first FPGA service manager instance is configured to:
• receive a request for a first FPGA service on behalf of a first software application executing at the level in the software stack at which the first FPGA service manager instance is instantiated or at a level in the software stack below the level at which the first FPGA service manager instance is instantiated;
• in response to a determination that a binary image instance for the first FPGA service has been loaded on the first FPGA, facilitate the use of the first FPGA service by the first software application.