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This paper presents the design of the XenoServer Open Platform: a public infrastructure for wide-area computing, capable of hosting tasks that span the full spectrum of distributed programming. The platform integrates resource management, charging and auditing. We emphasize the control-plane aspects of the system, showing how it supports service deployment with a low cost of entry and how it forms a substrate over which other distributed computing platforms can be deployed.

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Abstract—In this paper, we argue the need for effective resource management mechanisms for sharing resources in commodity clusters. To address this issue, we present the design of Sharc—a system that enables resource sharing among applications in such clusters. Sharc depends on single node resource management mechanisms such as reservations or shares, and extends the benefits of such mechanisms to clustered environments. We present techniques for managing two important resources—CPU and network interface bandwidth—on a cluster-wide basis. Our techniques allow Sharc to 1) support reservation of CPU and network interface bandwidth for distributed applications, 2) dynamically allocate resources based on past usage, and 3) provide performance isolation to applications. Our experimental evaluation has shown that Sharc can scale to 256 node clusters running 100,000 applications. These results demonstrate that Sharc can be an effective approach for sharing resources among competing applications in moderate size clusters.

In this paper, we examine two architectural alternatives— native OS support versus middleware—for supporting multimedia applications. Specifically, we examine whether extensions to OS functionality are necessary for supporting multimedia applications, or whether much of these benefits can be accrued by implementing resource management mechanisms in a middleware system. To answer these questions, we use QLinux and TAO as representative examples of a multimedia operating system and a multimedia middleware, respectively, and examine their effectiveness in supporting distributed applications. Our results show that although the run-time overheads of a middleware can impact application performance, middleware resource management mechanisms can, nevertheless, be as effective as native OS mechanisms for many applications. We also find OS kernelbased mechanisms to be more effective then middleware systems at providing application isolation and at preventing applications from interfering with one another.

The Xenoserver project [15] will build a public infrastructure for wide-area distributed computing. We envisage a world in which Xenoserver execution platforms will be scattered across the globe and available for any member of the public to submit code for execution. Crucially, the code's sponsor will be billed for all the resources used or reserved during its execution. This will encourage load balancing, limit congestion, and make the platform self-financing.

This paper presents the design of the XenoServer Open Platform: a public infrastructure for wide-area computing, capable of hosting tasks that span the full spectrum of distributed programming. The platform integrates resource management, charging and auditing. We emphasize the control-plane aspects of the system, showing how it supports service deployment with a low cost of entry and how it forms a substrate over which other distributed computing platforms can be deployed.