Optimization problems in service provisioning systems

Mitrani, I

doi:10.1007/978-3-540-75211-0_1

Optimization problems in service provisioning systems

Lookup NU author(s): Emeritus Professor Isi Mitrani

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Abstract

A service provisioning system typically contains a number of servers which may be distributed, heterogeneous and intermittently unavailable. They are used by the host in order to offer different services to a community of users. There may or may not be Service-Level Agreements involving Quality of Service constraints. In this context, there are several areas where dynamic optimisation problems arise quite naturally. These are (a) Routing and load-balancing: Where should an incoming request be sent for execution? If some queues grow large while others are short, can something be gained by transferring jobs among them? (b) Resource allocation: If different servers are dedicated to different types of service, how many should be assigned to each? When should a server be switched from one type of service to another? (c) Revenue maximisation: How are resource allocation and job admission policies affected by economic considerations? In particular, if service-level agreements specify payments for serving jobs and penalties for failing to provide a given quality of service, how many servers should be assigned to each type of service and when should jobs of that type be accepted? The talk will describe models that address the above problems and will discuss routing, allocation and admission policies that may be adopted in practical systems. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.