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Affinity Scheduling

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Parallel Computing

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Synonyms

Cacheaffinity scheduling; Resource affinity scheduling

Definition

Affinity scheduling is the allocation, or scheduling, of computing tasks on the computing nodes where they will be executed more efficiently. Such affinity of a task for a node can be based on any aspects of the computing node or computing task that make execution more efficient, and it is most often related to different speeds or overheads associated with the resources of the computing node that are required by the computing task.

Discussion

Introduction

In parallel computing environments, it may be more efficient to schedule a computing task on one computing node than on another. Such affinity of a specific task for a particular node can arise from many sources, where the goal of the scheduling policy is typically to optimize a functional of response time and/or throughput. For example, the affinity might be based on how fast the computing task can be executed on a computing node in an environment comprised of...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mathematical Sciences Deparment, IBM, 10598, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA

    Mark S. Squillante (Dr.)

Authors
  1. Mark S. Squillante
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    David Padua

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Squillante, M.S. (2011). Affinity Scheduling. In: Padua, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Parallel Computing. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09766-4_41

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