A general control-theoretical methodology for runtime resource allocation in computing systems

Control theory is emerging as a source of solutions for many problems in the computing systems domain, and in particular for resource allocation. However, the techniques proposed to date in the literature, do not successfully address the difficulty of devising allocation schemes that are general enough, provide stability guarantees, and can be parametrised and managed by system administrators, or computing systems´ practitioners at large. This paper proposes a two-level time-varying control scheme for the allocation of a generic resource, and proves its stability. In addition, the paper discusses how the scheme can be made acceptable by computing systems administrators, and how to tune the involved parameters. A simulation campaign is reported, validating the aforementioned claims.