NUMBER = "TI-691" INTERNAL_NUMBER ="THD-AT-1991-06" 
TITLE = "The Influence of Different Workload Descriptions on a  Heuristic Load Balancing Scheme" 
AUTHOR ="Thomas Kunz" 
ORGANIZATION = "University of Darmstadt" 
DEPARTMENT= "Dept. of Computer Science (FB20)" 
INSTITUTE = "Institute for Theoretical Computer Science" 
DIVISION = "Automata Theory and Formal Languages Division" 
DATE = "December 1991"

ABSTRACT 

"This paper discusses load balancing heuristics in a
general-purpose distributed computer system. To minimize the mean
response time of a task, every new task is scheduled to be
executed either locally or at a remote host, depending upon the
current load distribution. We implemented a task scheduler based
on the concept of a Stochastic Learning Automaton on a network of
Unix workstations. The used heuristic and our implementation are
shortly discussed. Creating an artificial, executable workload, a
number of experiments were conducted to determine the effect of
different workload descriptions. These workload descriptions
characterize the load at one host and determine, whether a newly
created task is to be executed locally or remotely. Six single
workload descriptors have been examined. Also, two more complex
workload descriptions combining single workload descriptors were
considered. The best results were obtained with a relatively
simple workload description, the number of tasks in the run queue
per host. Uing more complex workload descriptions, in contrast,
did not improve the mean response time, as compared to the best
single workload descriptor." KEYWORDS  "Distributed systems,
heuristics, load balancing, stochastic learning automata,
workload descriptions"