ON THE FOUNDATION OF ARTIFICIAL WORKLOAD DESIGN.

Abstract

The principles on which artificial workload model design is currently based are reviewed. Design methods are found wanting for three main reasons: their resource orientation, with the selection of resources often unrelated to the performance impact of resource demands; their avoiding to define an accuracy criterion for the resulting workload model; and their ignoring the dynamics of the workload to be modeled. An attempt at establishing conceptual foundations for the design of interactive artificial workloads is described. The problems found in current design methods are taken into account, and sufficient conditions for the applicability of these methods are determined. The study also provides guidance for some of the decisions to be made in workload model design using one of the current methods.