Device lending builds on top of SmartIO and allows devices to be borrowed and inserted into the local kernel device tree. This will load the (transparent) device driver for the device and signal a hot-add event.

Device lending can for example be used to give a computer additional GPU power by borrowing additional GPUs from other nodes in the cluster.

The Dolphin Device Lending software enables this process to be controlled using a set of command line tools and options. These tools can be used directly or integrated into any other higher level resource management system. The device lending software is very flexible and does not require any boot order or power on sequencing. PCIe devices borrowed from a remote system can be used as if they were local devices until they are given back. The Device Lending software does not require any changes to transparent devices or to the Linux kernel.

Devices can be made available to systems on the network and can be temporarily borrowed by any system as long as it is required. When use of the device is completed, the device can be borrowed by other systems on the network or it can be returned to local use where it is physically located.

Information on use of Device Lending can be found at https://docs.dolphinics.com/latest/smartio/device-lending.html.