Managing resource reservations in a highly parallel application

Abstract

A method for managing computing resource reservations comprises receiving a first reservation, at a reservation system, for a requested amount of computing resources for a virtual application from a total pool of available resources. The method further comprises adding the first reservation to a database of existing reservations if the requested amount of computing resources is available and associating the first reservation with a universal timestamp. The method also comprises verifying that the requested amount of computing resources is still available by: summing a total of all existing reservations in the database with a same target and reservation type as the first reservation and with a universal timestamp before the universal timestamp associated with the first reservation; and subtracting the sum total of those existing reservations from the total pool of available resources to produce a difference. The method then comprises comparing the difference to the requested amount of computing resources. If the requested amount of computing resources is less than the difference, the method provisions the requested resources for the virtual application. If the requested amount of computing resources is more than the difference, the method returns an error message.