Join-the-shortest-queue scheduling with delay

Abstract

Scheduling in queueing networks concerns a scenario where a scheduler, using system backlog information, decides to which processor to route arriving jobs to achieve various objectives. However, in such scenarios, a significant yet inevitable challenge facing the scheduler in practice is its delayed access to such system configuration information. In this paper, we incorporate this crucial delay element by considering the join-the-shortest-queue scheduling scheme and studying the effects on the system stability and performance arising from random delay in terms of the scheduler's access to system updates information. We characterize the interesting phenomenon observed that is of practical value: the join-the-shortest-queue is robust in the presence of such information delays.