A Survey on Scheduling Heuristics in Grid Computing Environment

Abstract

Job scheduling is one of the thrust research area in the discipline of Grid computing. Scheduling in the Grid environment is not only complicated but also known to be NP-Complete problem and that is all due to its unique characteristics. Thus, there are limited opportunities to find an optimal solution. In recent past, many eminent researchers reported a variety of Scheduling Heuristics that can have a substantial impact on the performance of the Grid systems. Unfortunately, it gives rise to difficulty in evaluating and keeping track of those solutions. Therefore, the motivation of this comprehensive study is to present firstly, an in-depth review of the topic under discussion mostly in the perspective of Grid Scheduling environment, and secondly, a proposal for a new state-of-the-art classification of the existing Scheduling Heuristics. All these Heuristics in each category have been further studied based on significant parameters frequently used in Scheduling Heuristics. The final part of this study includes a fair assessment of those mostly used dominating parameters. This report deals with the key concepts behind existing Scheduling Heuristics including Objectives, Types of Job Scheduling, Functionality of Grid, Nature of Grid, and the importance of the proposed classification.