Managing access to a resource pool of graphics processing units under fine grain control

An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored therein program code of one or more software programs, wherein the program code is executable by one or more processors to implement a process comprising:

• receiving, by a graphics processing unit (GPU) service platform, a service request from a GPU application programming interface (API) executing on a client system for GPU processing services provided by the GPU service platform, wherein the service request comprises a GPU API call of an application executing on a processor of the client system which is intercepted by the GPU API and re-directed to the GPU service platform for execution of the GPU API call by the GPU service platform in a manner that is transparent to the application, wherein the GPU service platform comprises a server cluster of GPU server nodes, wherein each GPU server node within the server cluster comprises one or more GPU devices;
• allocating, by the GPU service platform, at least two GPU server nodes within the cluster of GPU server nodes to handle GPU processing tasks specified by the service request, wherein allocating comprises logically binding the at least two GPU server nodes, and designating one of the at least two GPU server nodes as a master GPU server node;
• sending, by the GPU service platform, connection information to the GPU API executing on the client system to enable the GPU API to establish a network connection to the master GPU server node;
• receiving, by the master GPU server node, a block of GPU program code of the application executing on the processor of the client system, which is transmitted from the GPU API executing on the client system over the network connection, wherein the block of GPU program code is associated with the GPU processing tasks specified by the service request;
• processing the block of GPU program code using the GPU devices of the logically bound GPU server nodes under the control of the master GPU server node;
• and
• returning, by the master GPU server node, processing results of the block of GPU program code to the GPU API executing on the client system to enable the GPU API to pass the processing results to the application executing on the processor of the client system.

A system, comprising:

• a graphics processing unit (GPU) service platform, comprising:
• a server cluster of GPU server nodes wherein each GPU server node within the server cluster comprises one or more GPU devices;
• and
• a control server configured to:
• receive a service request from a GPU application programming interface (API) executing on a client system for GPU processing services provided by the GPU service platform, wherein the service request comprises a GPU API call of an application executing on a processor of the client system which is intercepted by the GPU API and re-directed to the GPU service platform for execution of the GPU API call by the GPU service platform in a manner that is transparent to the application,
• allocate at least two GPU server nodes within the cluster of GPU server nodes to handle GPU processing tasks specified by the service request, wherein allocating comprises logically binding the at least two GPU server nodes, and designating one of the at least two GPU server nodes as a master GPU server node;
• and
• send connection information to the GPU API executing on the client system to enable the GPU API to establish a network connection to the master GPU server node;
• and
• wherein the master GPU server node is configured to:
• receive a block of GPU program code of the application executing on the processor of the client system, which is transmitted from the GPU API executing on the client system over the network connection, wherein the block of GPU program code is associated with the GPU processing tasks specified by the service request;
• process the block of GPU program code using the GPU devices of the logically bound GPU server nodes under the control of the master GPU server node;
• and
• return processing results of the block of GPU program code to the GPU API executing on the client system to enable the GPU API to pass the processing results to the application executing on the processor of the client system.