Benchmarks and Standards for the Evaluation of Parallel Job Schedulers

The evaluation of parallel job schedulers hinges on the workloads used. It is suggested that this be standardized, in terms of both format and content, so as to ease the evaluation and comparison of different systems. The question remains whether this can encompass both traditional parallel systems and metacomputing systems. This paper is based on a panel on this subject that was held at the workshop, and the ensuing discussion; its authors are both the panel members and participants from the audience. Naturally, not all of us agree with all the opinions expressed here..

Abstract Predictable Network Computing using Message-driven Scheduling

Clusters of networked, off-the-shelf workstations are currently used for computationintensive, parallel applications. However, it is hardly possible to predict the timing behaviour of such systems or to give guarantees about execution times. In this paper, we present the design of message-driven scheduling to integrate Quality-of-Service guarantees in the distributed execution of parallel shared-memory programs in the “Shared Objects Netinterconnected Computer (SONiC) ” environment. SONiC provides a class-based programming interface; it consists of user-space servers and a runtime library. SONiC’s Scheduling Server allows for predictable partitioning of the CPU cycles of a single workstation. To provide predictable execution in a distributed environment, we extend this approach by a real-time communication server responsible for delivering QoS guarantees to the SONiC tasks by integrating message processing and scheduling. We present measurements which show the impact of the Scheduling Server on program execution. Furthermore, we evaluate how the communication behaviour over ATM is affected by varying background loads and application priorities on the end systems

M.Werner; Predictable Network Computing using Message-driven Scheduling to appear

Clusters of networked, off-the-shelf workstations are currently used for computationintensive, parallel applications. However, it is hardly possible to predict the timing behaviour of such systems or to give guarantees about execution times. In this paper, we present the design of message-driven scheduling to integrate Quality-of-Service guarantees in the distributed execution of parallel shared-memory programs in the “Shared Objects Netinterconnected Computer (SONiC) ” environment. SONiC provides a class-based programming interface; it consists of user-space servers and a runtime library. SONiC’s Scheduling Server allows for predictable partitioning of the CPU cycles of a single workstation. To provide predictable execution in a distributed environment, we extend this approach by a real-time communication server responsible for delivering QoS guarantees to the SONiC tasks by integrating message processing and scheduling. We present measurements which show the impact of the Scheduling Server on program execution. Furthermore, we evaluate how the communication behaviour over ATM is affected by varying background loads and application priorities on the end systems