Insensitive versus efficient dynamic load balancing in networks without blocking (Q855000)

The queueing networks without blocking are studied. A set of insensitive dynamic load balancing schemes preserving the structure of Whittle networks (i.e., a locally balanced network of processor sharing nodes -- one for each class) in the case of infinite buffers is considered. By use of Hausdorff's theorem it is proven that the optimal insensitive schemes are static in this case, in which routing decisions do not depend on the current state of the queues. The obtained results demonstrate that the insensitivity might be too strong a requirement to find efficient policies in the case of infinite buffers. On the other hand, strict insensitivity and efficiency may be incompatible objectives for queueing networks with dynamic load balancing in case of infinite buffers.