A comparison of scheduling approaches for mixed-parallel applications on heterogeneous platforms

Mixed-parallel applications can take advantage of large-scale computing platforms but scheduling them efficiently on such platforms is challenging. In this paper we compare the two main proposed approaches for solving this scheduling problem on a heterogeneous set of homogeneous clusters. We first modify previously proposed algorithms for both approaches and show that our modifications lead to significant improvements. We then perform a comparison of the modified algorithms in simulation over a wide range of application and platform conditions. We find that although both approaches have advantages, one of them is most likely the most appropriate for the majority of users.