Discrete Simulation of the Remote Access to the Resources of a Virtual Research Laboratory

This article discusses the problem of an evaluation of the remote access to the resources of a Virtual Research Lab (VRL) and information servicing investigation by using queuing model and program simulation. The results presented here are the final part of general investigation of proposed architecture of the VRL developed in the frame of two years scientific project. Some results from the initial phases of the investigation (functional, deterministic and stochastic modeling) are discussed in other publications of the author. The purpose of this article is to present a simulation organization and performance factors evaluation of the remote access and information servicing in the VRL. In this connection formalization and an abstract model are made. An extension of this formalization based on the queuing theory is made and a general queuing model for the simulation organization is developed. The program realization of the simulation experiments is made by using the system WebGPSS. Object of investigation is the user access to the resources and some variants are evaluated, for example 'single-user access to a single resource' and 'multiple-user access to multiple resources'. Some experimental results are discussed. Different assessments for the components that take part in the remote access are calculated and presented (utilization, workload, waiting time, etc.)