Modelling parallel databases with process algebra

With the current interest in using parallel computers as database servers t o provide a scaleable parallel application which satisfies a real commercia l need, there is a corresponding interest in performance prediction of para llel database systems. Both analytical and simulation approaches have been used and reported in the literature. This paper reports on an investigation into how a stochastic extension to classical process algebra (performance evaluation process algebra, PEPA) may be used for this purpose. This paradi gm has a small but powerful set of elements which offers great flexibility for performance modelling. The paper describes how the approach has been ad apted to handle database models, including the development of a technique, the decompositional approach, to handle the stale-space explosion of parall el database models. It concludes with a comparison between the results obta ined using this approach and those obtained using a different analytical ap proach. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.