Calculating the Best Machine

The hypothetical best machine is the one yielding the smallest execution time T for a given problem P. Therefore, we have to estimate this time on every machine M in the NetSolve system. Basically, we split the time T into and , where

• is the time to send the data to M and receive the result over the network, and
• is the time to perform the computation on M.

The time can be computed by knowing the following

1. network latency and bandwidth between the local host and M,
2. size of the data to send, and
3. size of the result to be received.

The computation of involves knowledge of the

1. size of the problem,
2. complexity of the algorithm to be used, and,
3. performance of M, which depends on
   • the workload of M and
   • the raw performance of M.