Dynamic load balancing on Amoeba

Distributed computer systems from time to time experience uneven loads on different resources. Dynamic load balancing aims to identify uneven load instances and takes appropriate actions to restore the balance. This paper presents our experiences in implementing a load balancing facility on the Amoeba system, which allows us to carry out a series of experiments with various algorithms. The results front a preliminary study of different load balancing algorithms are also presented. These results indicate that load balancing has great impact on system performance, it not only reduces the average response time of processes, but also the variation of response time. A comparison between these algorithm under various conditions is included, which indicates that with tens computers in a system, a centralized algorithm outperforms a distributed one. The results further indicate job initiation is an important part of a load balancing facility.<>