Recent work has attempted to achieve better resource allocation in complex computer systems by using feedback control. Such work typically assumes that the behavior of the underlying system can be modeled using a set of linear difference equations and that those equations are known at the time of the controller's design. Determining a model for an arbitrary set of interdependent applications is non trivial and there is no guarantee that it will be linear. We describe a feedback controller capable of allocating just enough resource to permit a required system behavior without knowledge of the system's model. We prove that the algorithm the controller uses guarantees convergence given certain assumptions and we compare the transient behavior of our general purpose controller with a classic proportional integral controller for a variety of different underlying systems.
By: Sean Rooney
Published in: RZ3381 in 2001
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