A Fair Scheduling Model Covering the History-Sensitiveness Spectrum

GPS(generalized processor sharing) is a fair scheduling scheme that guarantees fair distribution of resources in an instantaneous manner, while virtual clock pursues fairness in the sense of long-term. In this paper, we notice that the degree of memorylessness is the key difference of the two schemes, and propose a unified scheduling model that covers the whole spectrum of history-sensitiveness. In this model, each application's resource right is represented in a value called deposit, which is accumulated at a predefined rate and is consumed for services. The unused deposit, representing non-usage history, gives the application more opportunity to be scheduled, hence relatively enhancing its response time. Decay of the deposit means partial erase of the history and, by adjusting the decaying rate, the degree of history-sensitiveness is controlled. In the spectrum, the memoryless end corresponds GPS and the other end with full history corresponds virtual clock. And there exists a tradeoff between average delay and long-term fairness. We examine the properties of the model by analysis and simulation.