Stochastic Petri net modeling of VAXcluster system availability

Abstract

A VAXcluster is a closely coupled multicomputer system that consists of two or more VAX computers, one or more hierarchical storage controllers (HSCs), two or more disks, and a tar coupler. The Markov model of VAX cluster system availability suffers from state-space explosion as the number of VAX computers in the cluster increases. This has necessitated the use of approximate Markov models. The authors develop exact availability models of VAXcluster systems by means of stochastic Petri nets.<>