DYNAMIC CRITICAL PATH UPDATE FACILITY

• US 20090158287A1
• Filed: 12/08/2008
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cardelli, Marco
• Granted Patent: US 8,266,622 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0715 in a system implementing multitasking multitasking per se G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0757 by exceeding a time limit, i.e. time-out, e.g. watchdogs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0766 Error or fault reporting or storing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3414 Workload generation, e.g. scripts, playback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3419 by assessing time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/506 Constraint
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5038 considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups

Abstract

A method is presented for dynamically selecting and updating a critical execution path. The method may include receiving a network of jobs for execution. One or more critical jobs may be included in the network of jobs. A job causing a delay in the execution of the network of jobs may be detected, where the job precedes the critical job. A critical path in the network of jobs may then be determined as a function of the job causing a delay. Determination of the critical path may be further based on a slack time associated with jobs in the network that have planned execution times preceding a planned execution time for the critical job.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically selecting a critical execution path in a network of jobs, the method comprising:

receiving a network of jobs for execution, the network of jobs comprising at least one critical job;

detecting a job causing a delay in the execution of the network of jobs, the job preceding the at least one critical job; and

determining a critical path in the network of jobs, the critical path being determined as a function of the job causing a delay and a slack time associated with jobs in the network having planned execution times preceding a planned execution time for the critical job.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the job causing the delay is selected from the group consisting of a job that cannot start by a latest start time associated with the job, a job that is in error, and a job having an actual execution duration longer than an estimated duration.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a critical path further comprises selecting a path having a smallest slack time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the network of jobs comprises an execution flow.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the network of jobs is a workload plan.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a workload model; and

determining the critical path based on the workload model.

7. An apparatus for dynamically selecting a critical execution path, the apparatus comprising:

a workload planner to receive a network of jobs for execution, the network of jobs comprising at least one critical job;

a job monitor component to detect a job causing a delay in the execution of the network of jobs, the job preceding the at least one critical job; and

a workload scheduler to determine a critical path in the network of jobs, the critical path being determined as a function of the job causing a delay and a slack time associated with jobs in the network having planned executions preceding a planned execution of the critical job.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the job causing the delay is selected from the group consisting of a job that cannot start by a latest start time associated with the job, a job that is in error, and a job having an actual execution duration longer than an estimated duration.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the workload scheduler further determines the critical path by selecting a path having a smallest slack time.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the network of jobs comprises an execution flow.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the network of jobs is a workload plan.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the workload planner further receives a workload model.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the workload scheduler further determines the critical path based on the workload model.

14. A computer program product for dynamically selecting a critical execution path, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-usable medium having computer-usable program code embodied therein, the computer-usable program code comprising;

computer-usable program code for receiving a network of jobs for execution, the network of jobs comprising at least one critical job;

computer-usable program code for detecting a job causing a delay in the execution of the network of jobs, the job preceding the at least one critical job; and

computer-usable program code for determining a critical path in the network of jobs, the critical path being determined as a function of the job causing a delay and a slack time associated with jobs in the network having planned execution times preceding a planned execution time for the critical job.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the job causing the delay is selected from the group consisting of a job that cannot start by a latest start time associated with the job, a job that is in error, and a job having an actual execution duration longer than an estimated duration.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer-usable program code for determining a critical path further comprises computer-usable program code for selecting a path having a smallest slack time.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the network of jobs comprises an execution flow.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the network of jobs is a workload plan.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising:

computer-usable program code for receiving a workload model; and

computer-usable program code for determining the critical path based on the workload model.