Performance Characteristics of Gang Scheduling in Multiprogrammed Environments

Gang scheduling provides both space-slicing and time-slicing of computer resources for parallel programs. Each thread of execution from a parallel job is concurrently scheduled on an independent processor in order to achieve an optimal level of program performance. Time- slicing of parallel jobs provides for better overall system responsiveness and utilization than otherwise possible. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has deployed three generations of its gang scheduler on a variety of computing platforms. Results indicate the potential benefits of this technology to parallel processing are no less significant than time-sharing was in the 1960s.