Distributed dispatching in the parallel server model

Guy Goren, Shay Vargaftik, Yoram Moses

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

With the rapid increase in the size and volume of cloud services and data centers, architectures with multiple job dispatchers are quickly becoming the norm. Load balancing is a key element of such systems. Nevertheless, current solutions to load balancing in such systems admit a paradoxical behavior in which more accurate information regarding server queue lengths degrades performance due to herding and detrimental incast effects. Indeed, both in theory and in practice, there is a common doubt regarding the value of information in the context of multi-dispatcher load balancing. As a result, both researchers and system designers resort to more straightforward solutions, such as the power-of-two-choices to avoid worst-case scenarios, potentially sacrificing overall resource utilization and system performance. A principal focus of our investigation concerns the value of information about queue lengths in the multi-dispatcher setting. We argue that, at its core, load balancing with multiple dispatchers is a distributed computing task. In that light, we propose a new job dispatching approach, called Tidal Water Filling, which addresses the distributed nature of the system. Specifically, by incorporating the existence of other dispatchers into the decision-making process, our protocols outperform previous solutions in many scenarios. In particular, when the dispatchers have complete and accurate information regarding the server queue lengths, our policies significantly outperform all existing solutions.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication34th International Symposium on Distributed Computing, DISC 2020
EditorsHagit Attiya
ISBN (Electronic)9783959771689
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Oct 2020
Event34th International Symposium on Distributed Computing, DISC 2020 - Virtual, Online
Duration: 12 Oct 202016 Oct 2020

Publication series

NameLeibniz International Proceedings in Informatics, LIPIcs
Volume179

Conference

Conference34th International Symposium on Distributed Computing, DISC 2020
CityVirtual, Online
Period12/10/2016/10/20

Keywords

  • Distributed load balancing
  • Join the shortest queue
  • Parallel server model
  • Tidal water filling

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Software

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Distributed dispatching in the parallel server model'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this