Resource allocation (computer)

Abstract: Application development for distributed computing "Grids" can benefit from tools that variously hide or enable application-level management of critical aspects of the heterogeneous environment. As part of an investigation of these issues, we have developed MPICH-G2, a Grid-enabled implementation of the Message Passing Interface (MPI) that allows a user to run MPI programs across multiple computers, at the same or different sites, using the same commands that would be used on a parallel computer. This library extends the Argonne MPICH implementation of MPI to use services provided by the Globus Toolkit for authentication, authorization, resource allocation, executable staging, and I/O, as well as for process creation, monitoring, and control. Various performance-critical operations, including startup and collective operations, are configured to exploit network topology information. The library also exploits MPI constructs for performance management; for example, the MPI communicator construct is used for application-level discovery of, and adaptation to, both network topology and network quality-of-service mechanisms. We describe the MPICH-G2 design and implementation, present performance results, and review application experiences, including record-setting distributed simulations.

Abstract: This data storage subsystem creates multiple virtual storage devices on demand, which are available to any and all of the system's host data processors. The subsystem utilizes a plurality of tape devices and automated tape libraries with the tape devices connected to a plurality of data processors via a high-speed network. A set of software components, the Network Storage Manager (NSM) controls all system operations. Depending upon the requested storage performance, one or more tape devices are assigned to a virtual device. Data stripping across multiple tape devices allows the storage bandwidth of a virtual device to be changed on demand. The overall capacity and performance of the subsystem is scalable by adding or removing storage devices. The NSM system controller contains a plurality of software elements including: Resource Allocation, Resource Configuration, Resource Management, and Security Management modules. The use of a networked storage manager enables the storage devices to be managed as a pool and yet be attached directly to the network as individual resources. The NSM also provides the mechanism for the enterprise management to control tape device allocation and configuration as well as other functions, such as tape cartridge movement, data migration and data security.

Abstract: Dynamic capacity provisioning is a useful technique for handling the multi-time-scale variations seen in Internet workloads. In this paper, we propose a novel dynamic provisioning technique for multitier Internet applications that employs (i) a flexible queuing model to determine how much resources to allocate to each tier of the application, and (ii) a combination of predictive and reactive methods that determine when to provision these resources, both at large and small time scales. Our experiments on a forty-machine Linux-based hosting platform demonstrate the responsiveness of our technique in handling dynamic workloads. In one scenario where a flash crowd caused the workload of a three-tier application to double, our technique was able to double the application capacity within five minutes, thus maintaining response time targets

Abstract: A method of computing to address a predetermined computing requirement involving access to and use of computer resources, where more than one resource is capable of addressing the computing requirement. The method includes steps of describing plural computer resources using a description language, thereby obtaining descriptions of the resources; arranging the descriptions in one or more semantic ontologies; accessing one or more of the ontologies to select a particular one of the plural resources as available and/or qualified for addressing the computing requirement; and executing a computing process that utilizes the selected one of the plural resources to satisfy the computing requirement. The disclosed method involves use of description language and the computer resources comprise web services. The describing step involves identifying attributes of the computer-accessible resources. The attributes of the computer resources are selected from the group comprising but not limited to: message formatting for the computer resources, transport mechanisms associated with the computer resources, protocols associated with the computer resources, type serialization associated with the computer resources, and invocation requirements of the computer resources. In further accordance with the method, the invocation requirements of the computer resources may be selected from the group comprising: HTTP, SOAP, CORBA, JAVA RMI, and equivalent computer invocation specifications.