Metascheduling for continuous media

Next-generation distributed systems will support continuous media (digital audio and video) in the same framework as other data. Many applications that use continuous media need guaranteed end-to-end performance (bounds on throughput and delay). To reliably support these requirements, system components such as CPU schedulers, networks, and file systems must offer performance guarantees. A metascheduler coordinates these components, negotiating end-to-end guarantees on behalf of clients. The CM-resource model , described in this paper, provides a basis for such a metascheduler. It defines a workload parameterization, an abstract interface to resources, and an algorithm for reserving multiple resources. The model uses an economic approach to dividing end-to-end delay, and it allows system components to “work ahead,” improving the performance of nonreal-time workload.