Modelling Resource Dependencies

The major research in the resource management literature focuses primarily on two directions: 1) specification languages for formulating resource requests and 2) constraint problems modelling allocation and scheduling. Both directions assume the knowledge of the underlying platform architecture and the dependencies it induces on the usage of the various resources. In this report we bridge this gap, by introducing Constraint-Flow Nets (cfNets). A cfNet is defined by a set of resources and dependencies between them, each dependency having an associated constraint. The model is inspired by Petri Nets, with resources corresponding to places and dependencies—to transitions. Given an architecture of dependent resources, an initial resource request is propagated through the dependencies. The generated constraints are then conjuncted into the global allocation constraint. We study the notion of conflicts in cfNets and prove that for conflict-free cfNets the global allocation constraint can be constructed unambiguously. Furthermore, we provide an efficient algorithm for conflict detection.