On the User - Scheduler Dialogue: Studies of User-Provided Runtime Estimates and Utility Functions

Effective communication between user and scheduler is an important prerequisite to achieving a successful scheduling outcome from both parties' perspectives. In a grid or stand-alone high-performance computing (HPC) environment, this communication typically takes the form of a user-provided job script containing essential configuration information, including processors/resources required, a requested runtime, and a priority. User requested runtimes are notoriously inaccurate as a predictor of actual runtimes. This study examines whether users can improve their runtime estimates if a tangible reward is provided for accuracy. We show that under these conditions, about half of users provide an improved estimate, but there is not a substantial improvement in the overall average accuracy. Priority, as implemented in many production schedulers, is a very crude approximation of the value users may attach to timely job completion. We show users are capable of providing richer utility fun...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2006
• Where: IJHPCA
• Authors: Cynthia Bailey Lee, Allan Snavely
• Keywords: Essential Configuration Information, IJHPCA 2006, Overall Average Accuracy, Successful Scheduling Outcome