A novel multiclass priority algorithm for task scheduling in cloud computing

Task scheduling is an attractive research topic in cloud computing nowadays. This process is very challenging and well known as NP-complete problem. Due to the dynamic and heterogeneous nature of user’s request and provider’s resource in cloud computing, the scheduling process still needs intelligent algorithms to achieve an efficient cloud resource allocation and to guarantee a good Quality of Service (QoS) for the users and their request classes. An important aspect for meeting these objectives is to design an effective task scheduling scheme which can not only satisfy users’ varying priorities and QoS requirements, but also enhance providers’ profit and system performances. In this paper, we introduce a new strategy to address the priority issue in both users’ requests and providers’ resources. We propose an efficient priority tasks scheduling called MCPTS, where the priority is adjusted according to four tasks’ parameters including length, waiting time, deadline and burst time. MCPTS scheme consists of three sub-models such as tasks priority, task queueing priority and resources priority. A new hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method, namely ELECTRE III, and a meta-heuristic algorithm called differential evolution are proposed to evaluate and determine tasks’ priorities. Further, we introduce a novel dynamic priority-queue algorithm based on queueing model. Furthermore, we adjust dynamically the resources priority based on tasks priority model in order to design an efficient and flexible relation between both resources and tasks classes. The proposed algorithm is validated through the CloudSim simulator. The experimental results indicate the superiority of MCPTS algorithm compared to other existing algorithms. Also, it shows the effectiveness of our algorithm in providing good system performance, satisfying users’ priorities as well as QoS requirements, enhancing load balancing and improving resources utilization.