With the advent in multicore computers, the scheduling of Grid jobs can be made more effective if scaled to fully utilize the underlying hardware, and parallelized to benefit from the exploitation of multicores. The fact that sequential algorithms do not scale with multicore systems nor benefit from parallelism remains a major obstacle to scheduling in the Grid. As multicore systems become ever more pervasive in our computing lives, over reliance on such systems for passive parallelism does not offer the best option in harnessing the benefits of their multiprocessors for Grid scheduling. An explicit means of exploiting parallelism for Grid scheduling is required. The Group-based Parallel Multi-scheduler, introduced in this paper, is aimed at effectively exploiting the benefits of multicore systems for Grid scheduling by splitting jobs and machines into paired groups and independently scheduling jobs in parallel from those groups. We implemented two job grouping methods, Execution Time Balanced (ETB) and Execution Time Sorted then Balanced (ETSB), and two machine grouping methods, Evenly Distributed (EvenDist) and Similar Together (SimTog). For each method, we varied the number of groups between 2, 4 and 8. We then executed the MinMin Grid scheduling algorithm independently within the groups. We demonstrated that by sharing jobs and machines into groups before scheduling, the computation time for the scheduling process drastically improved by magnitudes of 85% over the ordinary MinMin algorithm when implemented on a HPC system. We also found that our balanced group based approach achieved better results than our previous Priority based grouping approach.
As Grid computing continues to make inroads into different spheres of our lives and multicore computers become ubiquitous, the need to leverage the gains of multicore computers for the scheduling of Grid jobs becomes a necessity. Most Grid schedulers remain sequential in nature and are inadequate in meeting up with the growing data and processing need of the Grid. Also, the leakage of Moore’s dividend continues as most computing platforms still depend on the underlying hardware for increased performance. Leveraging the Grid for the data challenge of the future requires a shift away from the traditional sequential method. This work extends the work of [1] on a quadcore system. A random method was used to group machines and the total processing power of machines in each group was computed, a size proportional to speed method is then used to estimates the size of jobs for allocation to machine groups. The MinMin scheduling algorithm was implemented within the groups to schedule a range of jobs while varying the number of groups and threads. The experiment was executed on a single processor system and on a quadcore system. Significant improvement was achieved using the group method on the quadcore system compared to the ordinary MinMin on the quadcore. We also find significant performance improvement with increasing groups. Thirdly, we find that the MinMin algorithm also gained marginally from the quadcore system meaning that it is also scalable.
The computing Grid has emerged as a platform to solve the complex and ever-increasing processing need of man and advances in computing technology have birthed the multicore era aimed for high throughput and efficient parallel computing. However, most systems still rely on the underlying hardware for parallelism despite the hard evidence that sequential algorithms do not optimally exploit parallel systems. This research seeks to harness the benefits of multicore systems using job and machine grouping methods to enhance parallelism in the scheduling of Grid jobs. The paper presents the result of two separate experiments on a method that parallelize scheduling algorithm on two multicore platforms. An arbitrary method was employed to group machines; a summation of the total processing power of machines in each group was made. To ensure load balancing, jobs were allocated to machine groups based on the ratio of the total processing power of the machines in each group. The MinMin Grid scheduling algorithm was implemented independently within the groups using a range of threads varied in powers of two. Also, the numbers of groups were varied between 2, 4, and 8. The same experiment was executed on a single processor computer; a duocore machine and a quadcore machine. A performance improvement of 16% to 85% was recorded by the group method against the best ordinary MinMin results and an improvement of 50% to 84% was recorded by the group method against the ordinary MinMin on corresponding machines. We prove that an increase in the number of groups results in improved performance on corresponding machines (approximately 2 times using 2 groups, approximately 3 times using four groups, and approximately 6 times using 8 groups). And most importantly, we established that as the number of processors increases, the grouping method makes more significant improvements over the ordinary MinMin scheduling algorithm executed on the multicore systems.
Usability issues are vital components for online-based businesses. With Nigeria integrating electronic payment into its financial system coupled with rising internet penetration in the country, several businesses have created an online presence and are cashing in on the opportunities. This has created a form of online competition among e-commerce businesses. This study employs the user test method to test the usability issues associated with E-commerce websites in Nigeria and how this affects the success of e-commerce businesses. We find several usability issues with all e-commerce websites tested and a general need for user-focused improvement on all the websites. We also find the issues of security and trust as salient to expand the e-commerce business in Nigerians. Based on the result and analysis, recommendations on usability, data policy, security, registration and other vital issues are offered.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.