OpenStack Cyborg is an open-source project that aims to provide a framework and set of tools for managing and orchestrating accelerators, also known as hardware accelerators, within an OpenStack cloud environment. Accelerators are specialized hardware devices designed to perform specific tasks efficiently, such as GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), DPUs (Data Processing Units), and ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits).
The main goal of Cyborg is to simplify the management and utilization of accelerators by providing a unified interface and framework for provisioning, scheduling, and managing these devices as a cloud resource. It enables users to request and allocate accelerators as needed for their workloads, enhancing the performance and efficiency of applications that require hardware acceleration.
Key components and features of OpenStack Cyborg include:
- Cyborg API: It provides a RESTful API for users and applications to interact with Cyborg. Users can submit requests for accelerator resources and manage them through the API.
- Cyborg Conductor: This component acts as the central orchestrator within Cyborg. It handles the scheduling and allocation of accelerator resources based on user requests and system policies.
- Cyborg Agent: The agent runs on compute nodes and communicates with the Cyborg Conductor to manage accelerators on the local node. It handles tasks such as discovery, monitoring, and lifecycle management of accelerators.
- Accelerator Manager: This component interacts with the underlying hardware drivers and manages the lifecycle of accelerators. It provides a standard interface for supporting different types of accelerators.
- Accelerator Drivers: Cyborg supports multiple types of accelerators through specific drivers. These drivers provide the necessary functionality to communicate with and manage different accelerator devices, such as GPUs, FPGAs, DPUs, and ASICs.
- Placement Service: Cyborg integrates with the OpenStack Placement service to enable resource tracking and allocation. It ensures that accelerators are efficiently scheduled based on availability and policy constraints.
- Integration with other OpenStack projects: Cyborg integrates with various other OpenStack projects, such as Nova (compute service) and Neutron (networking service), to provide seamless integration and orchestration of accelerators with virtual machines and network resources.
By leveraging Cyborg, cloud administrators can make efficient use of accelerators by dynamically allocating them to workloads that can benefit from hardware acceleration. It provides a unified interface and management framework for different types of accelerators, making it easier for developers and users to take advantage of these specialized resources within their OpenStack cloud deployments.
Overall, OpenStack Cyborg aims to enhance the performance, scalability, and flexibility of cloud-based applications by seamlessly integrating and managing hardware accelerators as first-class citizens within the OpenStack ecosystem.