Optimal strategies for scheduling checkpoints and preventive maintenance

Author

Coffman, E.G., Jr. ; Gilbert, E.N.

Author_Institution

AT$RT Bell Lab., Murray Hill, NJ, USA

Volume

39

Issue

1

fYear

1990

fDate

4/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

9

Lastpage

18

Abstract

At checkpoints during the operation of a computer, the state of the system is saved. Whenever a machine fails, it is repaired and then reset to the state saved at the latest checkpoint. In the present work, save times are known constants and repair times are random variables; failures are the epochs of a given renewal process. In scheduling the checkpoints, the cost of saves must be traded off against the cost of work lost when the computer fails. It is shown how to schedule checkpoints to minimize the mean total time to finish a given job. Similar optimization results are obtained for the tails of the distribution of the finishing time. Two variants of the basic model are considered. In one of the computer receives maintenance during each save; in the other it does not. Applications to the M/G/1 queuing system are touched on

Keywords

computer maintenance; queueing theory; scheduling; M/G/1 queuing system; checkpoint scheduling; computer operation; failures; optimal strategies; optimization; preventive maintenance; repair times; save times; Application software; Checkpointing; Computer applications; Costs; Finishing; Mathematical model; Preventive maintenance; Probability distribution; Processor scheduling; Random variables;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Reliability, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9529

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/24.52636

Filename

52636