A design-oriented study is conducted of process assignment policies having load-balancing effects in local-area-network-based distributed systems. The study utilizes analytic techniques when appropriate, but relies mostly on a simulation approach. The first phase of the study focuses on process assignment policies, and assumes the availability of an ideal assignment mechanism. The three primary factors of the first phase are the load index, the delay between load measurement and process assignment, and the duration of the smoothing interval. In the second phase, real mechanisms with their overheads are simulated. The best policies identified in the first phase, as well as several alternative mechanisms, are compared with one another. The ultimate goal of the research is to acquire the knowledge needed to design effective automatic load-balancing schemes.
