A Multiagent-Based Approach to the Grid-Scheduling Problem

Computer grids are systems containing heterogeneous, autonomous and geographically distributed nodes. The proper functioning of a grid depends mainly on the efficient management of grid resources to carry out the various jobs that users send to the grid. This paper proposes an algorithm that uses intelligent agents in each node to perform global scheduling in a collaborative and coordinated way. The algorithm was implemented in a grid simulation environment that allows the incorporation of intelligent agents. This simulation environment was designed and developed to run and analyze the behavior of the proposed algorithm, which outperforms the numerical performance of two well-known algorithms in terms of balancing the load and making use of the grid's capacity without giving preference to any node.