Abstract:

To deal with the resource co-allocation with the constraint of user budget in grid environments, this paper proposes a resource co-allocation model based on the three-side game. In this model, a new type of entity named Virtual Resource Retailer is introduced to transfer the typical resource co-allocation process into a three-side game process consisting of the user task, the virtual resource agency and the resource provider. In the cooperative game model, the benefit of resource providers is guaranteed by setting a wholesale price, while in the non-coopera- tive game model, the resource utilization and the user＇s cost are optimized by using a retail price lever. The validity and solution of the three-side model are then presented based on the utility function, and the effectiveness and performance of the model are verified by using the real grid workload based on a typical grid test-bed model. Simulated results show that, when dealing with the grid tasks with a cost constraint, the proposed three-side co-allocation model outperforms the conventional economy-based one by about 16% in term of resource benefit, and by 24% in term of resource utilization rate. Thus, the execution efficiency of grid tasks is effectively improved.

Key words: computational grid, co-allocation, utility function, computational economy, game theory