Summary: A Cost­Benefit Approach to Resource Allocation
in Scalable Metacomputers
by
R. Sean Borgstrom
A dissertation submitted to The Johns Hopkins University in conformity
with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Baltimore, Maryland
September, 2000
© R. Sean Borgstrom 2000
All Rights Reserved

ii
Abstract
A metacomputer is a set of machines networked together for increased computational
performance. To build an efficient metacomputer, one must assign jobs to the various
networked machines intelligently. A poor job assignment strategy can result in heavily
unbalanced loads and thrashing machines. This cripples the cluster's computational
power. A strong job assignment strategy helps a metacomputer complete all of its jobs
swiftly.
Resource heterogeneity makes job assignment more complex. Placing a job on one

Source: Amir, Yair - Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University

Collections: Computer Technologies and Information Sciences