An Introduction to the RESearch Queueing Package for Modeling Computer Systems and Communication Networks

A queueing network is an important tool for modeling systems where performance is principally affected by contention for resources. Such systems include computer systems, communication networks and manufacturing lines. In order to effectively use queuing networks as performance models, appropriate software is necessary for definition ofthe networks to be solved, for solution ofthe networks and for examination of the performance measures obtained. The RESearch Queueing Package (RESQ) and the RESearch Queueing Package Modeling Environment (RESQME) form a system for constructing, solving and analyzing extended queueing network models. We refer to the class of RESQ networks as extended because of characteristics which allow effective representation of system detail. RESQ incorporates a high level language to concisely describe the structure of the model and to specify constraints on the solution. A main feature of the language is the capability to describe models in a hierarchical fashion, allowing an analyst to define submodels to be used analogously to use of macros in programming languages. RESQ also provides a variety of methods for estimating the accuracy of simulation results and for determining simulation run lengths. RESQME is a graphical interface for RESQ. In this introduction, we limit our examples to computer systems and communication networks. Acknowledgement: The authors wish to thank their co-developers of RESQME: Jim Kurose and Kurt Gordon. We also want to thank Ben Antanaitis, Howard Jachter, Jack Servier, Daniel Souday and Peter Welch for their many suggestions which helped improve the RESQME package and Anil Aggarwal, Al Blum, Gary Burkland, Rocky Chang, Janet Chen, Diana Coles, Prakash Deka, Paul Lnewner, and Geoff Parker for their work in implementing RESQME. We would also like to thank our users for their ideas and feedback that we tried to incorporate in RESQ and RESQME. We remain indebted to Charlie Sauer for his design, guidance, inspiration, and development ofthe RESQ languag

Higher Level Modeling in RESQME

RC 13554 (#60544) The RESearch Queueing Package Modeling Environment (RESQME) is a graphical workstation environment for iteratively constructing, running and analyzing models of resource contention systems. It is built on top of the RESearch Queueing Package (RESQ) which provides the functionality to evaluate extended queueing networks. In this paper we describe the high-level building component design for RESQME. The modeler is provided with tools to create his own icons and to associate them with submodels. He then uses ilicsc building blocks to construct his model. This capability extends the funtlaiiicnlal building blocks of RESQ and allows the user to create models with objccls directly related to his application domain

Modelling Event-Based Interactions in Component-Based Architectures for Quantitative System Evaluation

This dissertation thesis presents an approach enabling the modelling and quality-of-service prediction of event-based systems at the architecture-level. Applying a two-step model refinement transformation, the approach integrates platform-specific performance influences of the underlying middleware while enabling the use of different existing analytical and simulation-based prediction techniques

Modelling Event-Based Interactions in Component-Based Architectures for Quantitative System Evaluation

This dissertation thesis presents an approach enabling the modelling and quality-of-service prediction of event-based systems at the architecture-level. Applying a two-step model refinement transformation, the approach integrates platform-specific performance influences of the underlying middleware while enabling the use of different existing analytical and simulation-based prediction techniques

An Introduction to the RESearch Queueing Package for Modeling Contention Systems

A queueing network is an important tool for modeling systems where performance is principally affected by contention for resources. Such systems include computer systems, communication networks and manufacturing lines. In order to effectively use queuing networks as performance models, appropriate software is necessary for definition of the networks to be solved, for solution of the networks and for examination of the performance measures obtained.The RESearch Queueing Package (RESQ) and the RESearch Queueing Modeling Environment (RESQME) form a system for constructing, solving and analyzing extended queueing network models. We refer to the class of RESQ networks as extended because of characteristics which allow effective representation of system detail. RESQ incorporates a high level language to concisely describe the structure of the model and to specify constraints on the solution. A main feature of the language is the capability to describe models in a hierarchical fashion, allowing an analyst to define submodels to be used analogously to use of macros in programming languages. RESQ also provides a variety of methods for estimating the accuracy of simulation results and for determining simulation run lengths. RESQME is a graphical interface for RESQ