Dispatcher I-queue Optimization in Join Idle Queue Algorithm for Improved Load Balancing in Cloud Computing

Abstract

Objectives: Modern data centers serving web and mobile applications employ distributed load balancers. The Join Idle Queue (JIQ) algorithm is ideally suited for load balancing in a distributed setup. It attains fast response time by directing service requests to idle servers which can immediately process them. However, JIQ is not optimal in tracking idle servers leaving room for improvement.

Methods: We observed that JIQ assigns idle servers non-uniformly to load balancers leaving some load balancers with no access to idle servers. We propose a variant of the JIQ algorithm, Join Idle Queue Dispatcher I-queue Optimization (JIQ-DIO), which increases the probability of load balancers having access to idle servers without additional communication overhead leading to improved response time.

Findings: We simulated JIQ-DIO on CloudSim Plus 3.0 and compared it with standard JIQ and its different variants. JIQ-DIO was found to increase the probability of incoming requests being directed to idle servers and lead to more than two-fold improvement in response time across a broad range of parameters.