An on-line algorithm for checkpoint placement

Abstract

Checkpointing is a common technique for reducing the time to recover from faults in computer systems. By saving intermediate states of programs in a reliable storage, checkpointing enables to reduce the lost processing time caused by faults. The length of the intervals between checkpoints affects the execution time of programs. Long intervals lead to long re-processing time, while too frequent checkpointing leads to high checkpointing overhead. In this paper we present an on-line algorithm for placement of checkpoints. The algorithm uses on-line knowledge of the current cost of a checkpoint when it decides whether or not to place a checkpoint. We show how the execution time of a program using this algorithm can be analyzed. The total overhead of the execution time when the proposed algorithm is used is smaller than the overhead when fixed intervals are used. Although the proposed algorithm uses only on-line knowledge about the cost of checkpointing, its behavior is close to the off-line optimal algorithm that uses a complete knowledge of checkpointing cost.