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Harvesting idle CPU resources for desktop grid computing while limiting the slowdown generated to end-users

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Abstract

We address the challenge of both harvesting idle CPU resources on off-the-shelf desktops donated to Desktop Grid Computing while at once limiting the slowdown generated to the resource owner, also known as end-user, to customized values. In this context, slowdown is studied as the increase in completion times of end-user tasks while a Desktop Grid harvests idle CPU resources by executing CPU intensive workloads. To achieve this, we deploy two Desktop Grids, one virtualization-based (UnaCloud) and one agent-based (BOINC). We then quantify the slowdown generated to simultaneously-running, end-user tasks. The results show that dynamic performance and energy-efficient technologies, specifically overclocking features, directly affect the slowdown generated to the end-user when incorporated into the processor used by the Desktop Grid. Furthermore, we propose, implement, and test a first set of resource allocation policies for the BOINC client in order to effectively harvest idle CPU resources while avoiding to exceed a customizable slowdown limit.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Systems and Computing Engineering Department, School of Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia

    Eduardo Rosales, Germán Sotelo, Antonio de la Vega, César O. Díaz, Carlos E. Gómez & Harold Castro

  2. Universidad del Quindio, Armenia, Colombia

    Carlos E. Gómez

Authors
  1. Eduardo Rosales
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  2. Germán Sotelo
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  3. Antonio de la Vega
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  4. César O. Díaz
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  5. Carlos E. Gómez
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  6. Harold Castro
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Correspondence to Eduardo Rosales.

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Rosales, E., Sotelo, G., de la Vega, A. et al. Harvesting idle CPU resources for desktop grid computing while limiting the slowdown generated to end-users. Cluster Comput 18, 1331–1350 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-015-0482-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-015-0482-4

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