Server resource balancing using a suspend-resume strategy

A system comprising:

• one or more computers;
• and
• a computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more computers having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
• receiving, by a first dispatcher in a dispatching layer, a first request to run a first task for a first application, the first request including a first application priority;
• identifying at least one second application priority of at least one second application that is executing when the request is received;
• determining that the first application priority is lower than at least one higher application priority included in the at least one second application priority;
• suspending, until after all higher priority applications have completed processing, execution of the first application based on determining that the first application priority is lower than the at least one higher application priority, wherein suspending execution of the first application comprises waiting to respond to the first request until the first task is dispatched;
• receiving an indication that an application having a higher application priority has finished;
• determining that the first application priority is a highest application priority of currently-running applications;
• identifying resources for execution of the first application, including selecting a first application server for the first application;
• and
• dispatching the first task for the first application to the first application server, wherein the dispatching includes returning destination information for the first application server, in response to the first request.

A non-transitory computer program product encoded on a non-transitory storage medium, the product comprising non-transitory, computer readable instructions for causing one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• receiving, by a first dispatcher in a dispatching layer, a first request to run a first task for a first application, the first request including a first application priority;
• identifying at least one second application priority of at least one second application that is executing when the request is received;
• determining that the first application priority is lower than at least one higher application priority included in the at least one second application priority;
• suspending, until after all higher priority applications have completed processing, execution of the first application based on determining that the first application priority is lower than the at least one higher application priority, wherein suspending execution of the first application comprises waiting to respond to the first request until the first task is dispatched;
• receiving an indication that an application having a higher application priority has finished;
• determining that the first application priority is a highest application priority of currently-running applications;
• identifying resources for execution of the first application, including selecting a first application server for the first application;
• and
• dispatching the first task for the first application to the first application server, wherein the dispatching includes returning destination information for the first application server, in response to the first request.