API service layer for scheduling forwarding of results computed by endpoint processing units through a network

A method of executing a distributed application with a plurality of endpoint processing units (EPUs) that perform computations for the distributed application, the method comprising:

• at a set of one or more scheduling servers:
• receiving a plurality of API (application programming interface) commands related to a plurality of the computations assigned to a set of EPUs;
• generating, based on the API commands, different sets of scheduling parameters for different sets of computations assigned to the set of EPUs;
• and
• distributing the generated sets of scheduling parameters to a plurality of network elements of a network that communicatively couples the set of EPUs, said distributed sets of scheduling parameters controlling the network elements forwarding of results of the assigned EPU computations through the network,
• wherein the API commands specify each EPU in the set of EPUs with an EPU identifier that is specified in a programming layer of the distributed application, while the generated scheduling parameters specify each EPU in the set of EPUs with an EPU-network identifier that is specified in a networking layer managed by the scheduling server set, the networking layer comprising the plurality of network elements.

A method of executing a distributed application with a plurality of endpoint processing units (EPUs) that perform computations for the distributed application, the method comprising:

• at a set of one or more scheduling servers:
• receiving a plurality of API (application programming interface) commands related to a plurality of the computations assigned to a set of EPUs;
• generating, based on the API commands, different sets of scheduling parameters for different sets of computations assigned to the set of EPUs;
• and
• distributing the generated sets of scheduling parameters to a plurality of network elements of a network that communicatively couples the set of EPUs, said distributed sets of scheduling parameters controlling the network elements forwarding of results of the assigned EPU computations through the network,
• wherein at least one API command specifies a memory-layer transfer operation to transfer a result of a first EPU's computation to a second EPU, said generating scheduling parameters comprising converting the memory-layer transfer operation into a set of network-layer operations that implement the memory-layer transfer operation.

A method of executing a distributed application with a plurality of endpoint processing units (EPUs) that perform computations for the distributed application, the method comprising:

• at a set of one or more scheduling servers:
• receiving a plurality of API (application programming interface) commands related to a plurality of the computations assigned to a set of EPUs;
• generating, based on the API commands, different sets of scheduling parameters for different sets of computations assigned to the set of EPUs;
• and
• distributing the generated sets of scheduling parameters to a plurality of network elements of a network that communicatively couples the set of EPUs, said distributed sets of scheduling parameters controlling the network elements forwarding of results of the assigned EPU computations through the network,
• wherein receiving the API commands comprises receiving a group of two or more API commands that specifies multiple computations that are to be executed by the plurality of EPUs in order to allow the set of scheduling servers to pre-generate a group of scheduling parameters for the multiple computations.

A method of executing a distributed application with a plurality of endpoint processing units (EPUs) that perform computations for the distributed application, the method comprising:

• at a set of one or more scheduling servers:
• receiving a plurality of API (application programming interface) commands related to a plurality of the computations assigned to a set of EPUs;
• generating, based on the API commands, different sets of scheduling parameters for different sets of computations assigned to the set of EPUs;
• distributing the generated sets of scheduling parameters to a plurality of network elements of a network that communicatively couples the set of EPUs, said distributed sets of scheduling parameters controlling the network elements forwarding of results of the assigned EPU computations through the network,
• wherein the network comprises a plurality of forwarding elements and a plurality of endpoint interface (EPIs), and the network elements comprise the plurality of EPIs and the plurality of forwarding elements.

A non-transitory machine readable medium storing program that when executed by at least one processor configures a network to forward communication between graphics processing units (GPUs) that collectively execute a distributed application by performing computations for operations associated with the distributed application, the network comprising a plurality of forwarding elements, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

• receiving a plurality of API (application programming interface) commands related to a plurality of the computations assigned to a set of GPUs;
• generating, based on the API commands, different sets of scheduling parameters for different sets of computations assigned to the set of GPUs;
• and
• distributing the generated sets of scheduling parameters to a plurality of network elements of a network that communicatively couples the set of GPUs, said distributed sets of scheduling parameters controlling the network elements forwarding of results of the assigned GPU computations through the network,
• wherein the network comprises a plurality of forwarding elements and a plurality of network interfaces, and the network elements comprise the plurality of network interfaces,
• wherein the set of scheduling parameters for a particular network interface of a particular GPU specifies a path through the network that the particular network interface of the particular GPU should use to forward data messages that contain a result of an operation performed by the particular GPU.