Coping with Fluctuations in Resource Availability in Grid Networks

Due to the fact that grid networks are nonproprietary systems, resource allocation mechanisms must cope with fluctuations in resource availability to guarantee the QoS requirements of the applications. Mechanisms are classified either as reactive mechanisms, which react to the fluctuations in run time, or as proactive mechanisms, which try to infer the occurrence of fluctuations in resource availability. This paper presents a study that evaluates the performance of these two different mechanisms in order to compare their advantages. Besides, a new mechanism, integrating the main characteristics of these mechanisms, is proposed. It produces makespan lower than those given by the other two mechanisms.