An experimental study of load balancing on Amoeba

The paper presents the results of an experimental study of load balancing using job initiation and process migration, carried out on Amoeba (A.S. Tanenbaum et al., 1990). The results indicate the need for a load balancing facility in a distributed system to improve system performance, e.g., the average response time of processes. A number of load balancing algorithms, including the bidding and neighbouring algorithms, have been studied in this work. A comparison between these algorithms under various conditions is presented, which indicates that in a system with 10-20 computers, a centralized algorithm outperforms a distributed one and job initiation plays an important role in a load balancing scheme. We also point out some requirements for an operating system in order to support an efficient load balancing facility, on the basis of our experience. We conclude with a summary of our experiences and suggestions for further work