Testing scenario PL doesn't seem to handle really well...

Started by horizon, June 17, 2009, 07:25:07 PM

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horizon

1. Execute several instances (6 or more) of calc.exe in scientific mode.
2. Insert as much 9s as possible in each of them. (Number 99999999999999999999999999999999 )
3. Execute factorial (Button [n!] ) in each calc.exe
4. This will generate HUGE load.
5. PL unfortunately heavily struggles, while turning restrains on and off.
6. So the result is, that the whole computer becomes more or less irresponsible.

( I've got two cores 1.7GHz and as long as I've got all the hogging processes on one core, it's ok... As soon as some of them get to the other core, situation gets out of control very easily.)

On laptop, this might sounds too synthetic, but consider please terminal servers or citrix, where a number of users are doing different strange things in MS Access or Excel, it's quite realistic :)

As a solution, I'd suggest to add/modify some Probalance options. (If those options are already present, let me know please. I simply couldn't find them.)

1. ProBalance: "Minimal restraint duration": I want PL to push the rogue process low very fast, keep it there for some time.)
2. "Per process CPU usage when restraint should stop": I'd suggest to have there continuous selection or smaller steps. (I am seeking for something like 3, 2 or even 1% )

thx
Lukas

Jeremy Collake

Sorry for the delay in response, I was away for a few days visiting Family.

In v3.60, there is a new Minimum restraint duration option in the 'ProBalance parameters' dialog (Options / ProBalance settings ...). Increasing this will probably improve the situation considerably.

I agree in allowing a little more granularity in the CPU quota selections. I used 5% steps just as a matter of convenience. You can change them manually in the INI configuration file, setting them to whatever values you want.

I will continue to work on tweaking the ProBalance options. I believe I know what is going on in this case. I have some planned changes the default settings, so that they are customized for particular hardware and particular versions of Windows.

Thanks for the feedback, and I will be working on this.

Software Engineer. Bitsum LLC.