Abstract

Load sharing in a Beowulf cluster can be done transparently by PANTS. However, PANTS distributes load using only a measurement of CPU usage to index load. While CPU usage is the typical metric used in load distribution, other system resources such as disk and memory can become loaded and be a performance bottleneck. We examine PANTS in the context of load distribution algorithms, build new load indices, develop benchmarks, and evaluate performance. We find our load indices can reduce compile time of the Linux kernel by 1/2 of the time of the original PANTS indices.

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Previous related projects:

• Kevin Dickson, Chuck Homic and S. Bryan Villamin. Putting PANTS on Linux: Transparent Load Sharing in a Beowulf Cluster, Major Qualifying Project MQP-DXF-9918, Spring 2000. (Advisor Mark Claypool, co-advised with Professor David Finkel)

• Michael Szelag, David Terry and Jennifer Waite. Integrating Distributed Inter-Process Communication with PANTS on a Beowulf Cluster, Major Qualifying Project MQP-DXF-0021, Spring 2001. (Advisor Mark Claypool, Co-advised with Professor David Finkel)

See also:

• Mark Claypool and David Finkel. Transparent Process Migration for Distributed Applications in a Beowulf Cluster, In Proceedings of the International Networking Conference (INC), Plymouth, UK, July 2002. /~claypool/papers/pants/