Abstract
Desktop grids, which use the idle cycles of many desktop PCs, are one of the largest distributed systems in the world. Despite the popularity and success of many desktop grid projects, the heterogeneity and volatility of hosts within desktop grids have been poorly understood. Yet, resource characterization is essential for accurate simulation and modelling of such platforms. In this paper, we present application-level traces of four real desktop grids that can be used for simulation and modelling purposes. In addition, we describe aggregate and per host statistics that reflect the heterogeneity and volatility of desktop grid resources. Finally, we apply our characterization to develop a performance model for desktop grid applications for various task granularities, and then use a cluster equivalence metric to quantify the utility of the desktop grid relative to that of a dedicated cluster for task-parallel applications.
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