- Email: [email protected]
Distributed systems performance
Performance Evaluation 58 (2004) 87–88
Guest editorial
Distributed systems performance The declining cost of computing systems and the continuous improvement in price performance ratio of networks that interconnect such computing nodes are responsible for the increase in popularity of distributed processing. System builders are deploying the distributed processing technology for building well performing and reliable systems that use information from various local or geographically dispersed nodes. Scalability and low latency are often desirable characteristics of such systems. Examples include various telecommunication systems, web-based applications such as e-commerce systems and grid-based systems such as computing and data grids. Modeling and measurement of performance of both the computing and network subsystems are crucial for an effective deployment of high performance distributed systems. This special issue presents a number of papers that concern system performance on such distributed systems. Both analytic and simulation models are used in performance evaluation. Analytic models are often used to compute the desired performance metrics for a variety of different input parameter combinations in a short period of time. Simulation models are used when the analyst is interested in a more detailed system behavior or the assumptions underlying a tractable analytic model are not satisfied. Characterization of the workload a system is subjected to plays an important role in both simulation and analytic model-based performance evaluation. The effectiveness of the performance analysis depends on how representative these models are of the real systems. We have selected papers that present new research results in these three important areas of performance evaluation whereas some of the papers included in this issue concern techniques for performance enhancement. The application domains cover a wide range that includes network protocols, the internet and utility grids. These papers are based on some of the excellent shorter papers published in the Proceedings of the 10th IEEE International Symposium on Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems (MASCOTS 2002). The papers included in the journal contain significant additional research results and each of the journal submissions was thoroughly refereed.
Acknowledgments We are grateful to the authors and the referees who have contributed effectively to this special issue of the journal. Thanks are also due to Performance Evaluation for presenting this opportunity for the dissemination of these interesting research results.
0166-5316/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.peva.2004.08.003
88
Distributed systems performance / Performance Evaluation 58 (2004) 87–88 Shikharesh Majumdar is a Professor and the Director of the Real Time and Distributed Systems lab at the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He holds an MSc and a PhD degree in Computational Science from University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. Before his graduate studies in Canada he did a Bachelor of Electronics and Telecom Engineering and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Computer Science (hardware) from Jadavpur University in India and completed the Corso Di Perfezionamento from Politecnico Di Torino in Italy. Dr. Majumdar has worked at the R&D Wing of Indian Telephone Industries (Bangalore) for six years. His research interests are in the areas of grid-based systems, operating systems, middleware and performance evaluation. He has received two awards related to publications in these areas. Dr. Majumdar is a member of ACM and IEEE. He was a Distinguished Visitor for the IEEE Computer Society from 1998 to 2001.
Azzedine Boukerche holds a Canada Research Chair Professor at the University of Ottawa, and the Founding Director of PARADISE Research Laboratory at Ottawa University. Prior to this, he held a faculty position at the University of North Texas, USA, and he was working as a Senior Scientist at the Simulation Sciences Division, Metron Corporation located in San Diego. He was also employed as a Faculty at the School of Computer Science McGill University, and taught at Polytechnic of Montreal. He spent a year at the JPL-California Institute of Technology where he contributed to a project centered about the specification and verification of the software used to control interplanetary spacecraft operated by JPL/NASA Laboratory. His current research interests include performance evaluation and modeling of large-scale distributed systems, wireless networks, mobile and pervasive computing, wireless multimedia, QoS service provisioning, wireless ad hoc and sensor networks, distributed computing, large-scale distributed interactive simulation, and performance modeling. Dr. Boukerche has published several research papers in these areas. He was the recipient of the best research paper award at PADS’97, and the recipient of the 3rd National Award for Telecommunication Software 1999 for his work on a distributed security systems on mobile phone operations, and has been nominated for the best paper award at the IEEE/ACM PADS’99, ACM MSWiM 2001, and ACM MobiWac 2004. Dr. A. Boukerche serves as an Associate Editor and on the editorial board for ACM/Kluwer Wireless Networks, the Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, and the SCS Transactions on simulation. He also serves as a Steering Committee Chair for the ACM Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems Symposium, the ACM Workshop on Performance Evaluation of Wireless Ad Hoc, Sensor, and Ubiquitous Networks and the IEEE Distributed Simulation and Real-Time Applications Symposium (DS-RT). He served as a General Chair for the first International Conference on Quality of Service for Wireless/Wired Heterogeneous Networks (QShine 2004), ACM/IEEE MASCOST 1998, IEEE DS-RT 1999-2000, ACM MSWiM 2000; Program Chair for ACM/IFIPS Europar 2002, IEEE/SCS Annual Simulation Symposium ANNS 2002, ACM WWW’02, IEEE/ACM MASCOTS 2002, IEEE Wireless Local Networks WLN 03-04; IEEE WMAN 04-05, ACM MSWiM 98-99, and TPC member of numerous IEEE and ACM conferences. He served as a Guest Editor for the Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computying (JPDC), and ACM/Kluwer Wireless Networks and ACM/Kluwer Mobile Networks Applications, and the Journal of Wireless Communication and Mobile Computing.
Shikharesh Majumdar Real Time and Distributed Systems Group Department of Systems and Computer Engineering Carleton University, Ottawa, Ont., Canada K1S 5B6 Azzedine Boukerche School of Information Technology and Engineering University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ont., Canada E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S. Majumdar) [email protected] (A. Boukerche)
Guest editorial
Distributed systems performance The declining cost of computing systems and the continuous improvement in price performance ratio of networks that interconnect such computing nodes are responsible for the increase in popularity of distributed processing. System builders are deploying the distributed processing technology for building well performing and reliable systems that use information from various local or geographically dispersed nodes. Scalability and low latency are often desirable characteristics of such systems. Examples include various telecommunication systems, web-based applications such as e-commerce systems and grid-based systems such as computing and data grids. Modeling and measurement of performance of both the computing and network subsystems are crucial for an effective deployment of high performance distributed systems. This special issue presents a number of papers that concern system performance on such distributed systems. Both analytic and simulation models are used in performance evaluation. Analytic models are often used to compute the desired performance metrics for a variety of different input parameter combinations in a short period of time. Simulation models are used when the analyst is interested in a more detailed system behavior or the assumptions underlying a tractable analytic model are not satisfied. Characterization of the workload a system is subjected to plays an important role in both simulation and analytic model-based performance evaluation. The effectiveness of the performance analysis depends on how representative these models are of the real systems. We have selected papers that present new research results in these three important areas of performance evaluation whereas some of the papers included in this issue concern techniques for performance enhancement. The application domains cover a wide range that includes network protocols, the internet and utility grids. These papers are based on some of the excellent shorter papers published in the Proceedings of the 10th IEEE International Symposium on Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems (MASCOTS 2002). The papers included in the journal contain significant additional research results and each of the journal submissions was thoroughly refereed.
Acknowledgments We are grateful to the authors and the referees who have contributed effectively to this special issue of the journal. Thanks are also due to Performance Evaluation for presenting this opportunity for the dissemination of these interesting research results.
0166-5316/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.peva.2004.08.003
88
Distributed systems performance / Performance Evaluation 58 (2004) 87–88 Shikharesh Majumdar is a Professor and the Director of the Real Time and Distributed Systems lab at the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He holds an MSc and a PhD degree in Computational Science from University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. Before his graduate studies in Canada he did a Bachelor of Electronics and Telecom Engineering and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Computer Science (hardware) from Jadavpur University in India and completed the Corso Di Perfezionamento from Politecnico Di Torino in Italy. Dr. Majumdar has worked at the R&D Wing of Indian Telephone Industries (Bangalore) for six years. His research interests are in the areas of grid-based systems, operating systems, middleware and performance evaluation. He has received two awards related to publications in these areas. Dr. Majumdar is a member of ACM and IEEE. He was a Distinguished Visitor for the IEEE Computer Society from 1998 to 2001.
Azzedine Boukerche holds a Canada Research Chair Professor at the University of Ottawa, and the Founding Director of PARADISE Research Laboratory at Ottawa University. Prior to this, he held a faculty position at the University of North Texas, USA, and he was working as a Senior Scientist at the Simulation Sciences Division, Metron Corporation located in San Diego. He was also employed as a Faculty at the School of Computer Science McGill University, and taught at Polytechnic of Montreal. He spent a year at the JPL-California Institute of Technology where he contributed to a project centered about the specification and verification of the software used to control interplanetary spacecraft operated by JPL/NASA Laboratory. His current research interests include performance evaluation and modeling of large-scale distributed systems, wireless networks, mobile and pervasive computing, wireless multimedia, QoS service provisioning, wireless ad hoc and sensor networks, distributed computing, large-scale distributed interactive simulation, and performance modeling. Dr. Boukerche has published several research papers in these areas. He was the recipient of the best research paper award at PADS’97, and the recipient of the 3rd National Award for Telecommunication Software 1999 for his work on a distributed security systems on mobile phone operations, and has been nominated for the best paper award at the IEEE/ACM PADS’99, ACM MSWiM 2001, and ACM MobiWac 2004. Dr. A. Boukerche serves as an Associate Editor and on the editorial board for ACM/Kluwer Wireless Networks, the Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, and the SCS Transactions on simulation. He also serves as a Steering Committee Chair for the ACM Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems Symposium, the ACM Workshop on Performance Evaluation of Wireless Ad Hoc, Sensor, and Ubiquitous Networks and the IEEE Distributed Simulation and Real-Time Applications Symposium (DS-RT). He served as a General Chair for the first International Conference on Quality of Service for Wireless/Wired Heterogeneous Networks (QShine 2004), ACM/IEEE MASCOST 1998, IEEE DS-RT 1999-2000, ACM MSWiM 2000; Program Chair for ACM/IFIPS Europar 2002, IEEE/SCS Annual Simulation Symposium ANNS 2002, ACM WWW’02, IEEE/ACM MASCOTS 2002, IEEE Wireless Local Networks WLN 03-04; IEEE WMAN 04-05, ACM MSWiM 98-99, and TPC member of numerous IEEE and ACM conferences. He served as a Guest Editor for the Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computying (JPDC), and ACM/Kluwer Wireless Networks and ACM/Kluwer Mobile Networks Applications, and the Journal of Wireless Communication and Mobile Computing.
Shikharesh Majumdar Real Time and Distributed Systems Group Department of Systems and Computer Engineering Carleton University, Ottawa, Ont., Canada K1S 5B6 Azzedine Boukerche School of Information Technology and Engineering University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ont., Canada E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S. Majumdar) [email protected] (A. Boukerche)