Controlling software applications via resource allocation within the Heartbeats framework

Abstract

A formalism was recently introduced to instrument, monitor and control computer applications based on the rate of heartbeats they emit, thereby quantitatively signaling their progress toward goals. To date, the idea was however used essentially in an heuristic manner. This work first shows that a very simple dynamic heartbeat rate model can be devised, an that said model allows to address the corresponding control problems in a methodologically grounded way. A general solution is then devised, that can be realized through different actuation mechanisms, depending on which type of resource-CPU, memory, bandwidth, etc.-is constraining the application performance in the particular situation at hand. Experiments prove the efficacy of the proposed extension to the heartbeats framework, both with applications that fit the proposed model and with more complex test cases, for which said model is just a coarse approximation.