SimBA: a discrete event simulator for performance prediction of volunteer computing projects

SimBA (Simulator of BOINC Applications) is a discrete event simulator that accurately models the main functions of BOINC, a master-worker runtime framework. SimBA generates, distributes, and monitors tasks executed in a highly volatile, heterogeneous, and distributed environment such as Volunteer Computing (VC). In addition, it collects and validates results of executed tasks.To understand the strengths and weaknesses of BOINC under distinct scenarios, project designers must study and quantify its performance without affecting the VC community. Although this is not possible on production systems, it is possible using SimBA, which is capable of testing a wide range of hypotheses in a short period of time.Our experience to date indicates that SimBA is a reliable tool for performance prediction of VC projects. Preliminary results show that SimBA's predictions of Predictor@Home performance are within approximately 5% of the performance reported by this BOINC project.