Static performance of a divide-and-conquer information-distribution protocol supporting a load-balancing scheme

The paper examines an application of the divide-and-conquer approach to information collection and dissemination in distributed systems. The general approach is to divide the system into subsystems, distribute information within the subsystems, and distribute information between the subsystems. Distributed decisions are made as a result of the system-wide migration of information. The implementation of this idea which is explored is called the multiple virtual rings (MVR) protocol. Static tests are performed on simulated systems controlled by MVR and by a bidding protocol. The distributed-decision objective used in these tests is that of load balancing. The performance of MVR is compared with that of the bidding protocol. It is concluded that the application of the divide-and-conquer notion to parallel information dissemination and decision making in distributed systems is feasible. The MVR implementation of this concept is found to give a performance equal to or better than the bidding protocol in most tests.