Improved Genetic Algorithms and List Scheduling Techniques for Independent Task Scheduling in Distributed Systems

• Published in: Eighth International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing, Applications and Technologies (PDCAT 2007) pp. 67 - 74
• Main Authors: Loukopoulos, T., Lampsas, P., Sigalas, P.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-12-2007
• Subjects: Application software; Clustering algorithms; Concurrent computing; Distributed computing; Educational technology; Genetic algorithms; Grid computing; Informatics; Processor scheduling; Testing
• ISBN: 0769530494; 9780769530499
• ISSN: 2379-5352
• DOI: 10.1109/PDCAT.2007.82

Given a set of tasks with certain characteristics, e.g., data size, estimated execution time and a set of processing nodes with their own parameters, the goal of task scheduling is to allocate tasks at nodes so that the total makespan is minimized. The problem has been studied under various assumptions concerning task and node parameters with the resulting problem statements usually being NP-complete. List scheduling (LS) heuristics such as MaxMin and MinMin together with genetic algorithms (GAs) were applied in the past to find solutions. In this paper we investigate new heuristics for both the LS and the GA paradigm with the specific aim of improving the performance of the standard algorithms when task computations involve large data transfers. Experimental results under various environment assumptions illustrate the merits of the new algorithms.