Dynamically modifying a cluster of computing nodes used for distributed execution of a program

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• receiving, by one or more computing systems configured to provide a distributed program execution service having a plurality of computing nodes, configuration information regarding executing an indicated program on an indicated quantity of multiple of the plurality of computing nodes, wherein the executing of the indicated program causes a plurality of jobs to be executed;
• initiating at a first time, by the one or more configured computing systems, the executing of the indicated program in a distributed manner on the multiple computing nodes in such a manner that one or more of the jobs of the indicated program are attempted to be executed on each of the multiple computing nodes;
• determining, by the one or more configured computing systems at a second time subsequent to the first time, whether a minimum subset of the multiple computing nodes have begun to execute the jobs of the indicated program as expected;
• and
• in response to the determining, initiating a change in a quantity of the multiple computing nodes that are used for executing the jobs of the indicated program.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose contents configure a computing system to perform a method comprising:

• attempting to execute one or more of a plurality of jobs of a distributed program across a cluster of multiple computing nodes;
• determining, by the configured computing system, that an actual quantity of computing resources that has begun to be used to execute the distributed program differs from a specified minimum quantity of computing resources that are expected to be so used;
• and
• initiating a change in a quantity of the multiple computing nodes of the cluster that are executing the distributed program based at least in part on the determined actual quantity of computing resources.

A computing system configured to dynamically modify distributed execution of programs, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more components of a distributed execution service that are configured to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, dynamically modify distributed execution of programs for users by, for each of multiple of the users:
• receiving information from the user regarding executing an indicated program in a distributed manner on a cluster of multiple computing nodes, the executing of the indicated program in the distributed manner including executing a plurality of jobs of the indicated program;
• initiating the executing of the indicated program in the distributed manner on the multiple computing nodes of the cluster at a first time in such a manner that one or more of the jobs of the indicated program are attempted to be executed on each of the multiple computing nodes;
• at a second time subsequent to the first time, determining that an actual quantity of the multiple computing nodes that have begun executing the jobs of the indicated program differs from a specified minimum quantity of the multiple computing nodes;
• and
• initiating a change in the multiple computing nodes of the cluster based at least in part on the determined actual quantity of the multiple computing nodes.