KEYWORDSGrid computing, meta-scheduling, distributed load balancing, topology-aware.
1.INTRODUCTIONGrid computing[1] extends existing distributed computing to a more unified and collaborative structure. It enables multiple computing resources, that are geographically distributed and owned by different individuals or organizations, to be logically coupled to form the illusion of a powerful super computer with infinite capacity [2].Scheduling and load balancingare essential grid software infrastructure services. Theseservices assigntasks to nodes(i.e. computing resources) and transfer tasks from overloaded to under-loaded nodesin orderto maximizeresource utilization on one hand,and minimizing the total task's execution time on the other hand. Considering the grid load balancing problem, several solutions have been proposed using different methods and strategies, e.g., [3] Among the most critical issues pertaining to grids is how to manage the resources [4]. In the proposed solution, the grid resources are organized according to a logical topology called theresource managementmodel [4]. This topology/model defines how the different grid entities communicate and work in order to achieve the received jobs/tasks. R. Buyyaet al. proclaimed that the choice of the right model for the resource management architecture plays a major role in its eventual (commercial) success [4].The motivation behind this paperis based on the observation that the load balancing problem can be improved by simply improving the classical used models tree, star, and P2Pand further proposing a new one; a polyhedron sphere like model that was introduced for the first time in [14]. This logical model has the merit of providing optimized load balancing in a stateless context. It guarantees a high level of decentralization and scalability of the load balancing process leading tobetter resource utilization rates and minimum tasks execution time. Therefore,this work proposes adecentralizedtopology-awareload balancing solutionfor independent tasks in a grid environment