A Parallel Loop Self-Scheduling on Extremely Heterogeneous PC Clusters

Cluster computers are a viable and less expensive alternative to symmetric multiprocessor systems. However, a serious difficulty in concurrent programming of a cluster computer system is how to deal with scheduling and load balancing of such a system which may consist of heterogeneous computers. Self-scheduling schemes suitable for parallel loops with independent iterations on heterogeneous computer clusters have been designed in the past. These schemes, such as FSS, GSS and TSS, can achieve load balancing in SMP, even in a moderate heterogeneous environment, but are not suitable in extremely heterogeneous environments. In this paper, we propose a heuristic approach to solve parallel loop scheduling problems on an extremely heterogeneous PC cluster environment.