System, method, and computer program product for group scheduling of computer resources

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product for managing computer resources in a computer system running an operating system and a plurality of processes grouped into at least two groups. A set of resource limits corresponds to the processes. A scheduler of resource allocation allocates resources to each process such that total resource allocation to a group to which that process belongs remains constant. The resources comprise, e.g., network bandwidth, number of network connections, I/O bandwidth for peripheral devices, number of operations in a period of time for service operation with countable requests for service, number of operations in a period of time for a daemon with countable requests for service, permission for execution of operation, number of security descriptors, and number of terminals. The scheduler reallocates the resources based on a predictive algorithm, or based on process priority, or based on relative weighting of the processes. The scheduler can adjust an increase and a decrease of the resources available to a particular process. The scheduler is capable of increasing a resource allocation restriction to one process by and by waiting for that resource to become available. The scheduler is capable of increasing a resource allocation to one process by reducing allocation restriction to other processes in the same group on a basis proportional to their current use of that resource. The scheduler can reduce a resource allocation to a particular process based on a history of consumption of the resource by that process and a history of consumption of other resources by that process.