Context Switch Time Scalability: Benchmark Results

The work a computer system performs to temporarily suspend execution of one process and resume execution of another process is called a context switch. The time it takes for a computer system to perform a context switch is often cited as an important performance metric. Lengthy context switch time can result in poor performance in process-intensive applications such as distributed servers or interactive systems. However, context switch time is usually assumed to be constant for a particular system. This document describes a benchmark program which shows that for many systems this is not the case. The program was run on a variety of UNIX��-based systems at NCAR, and the results are given in both tabular and graphical form. They show that for many systems, context switch time increases, sometimes dramatically, with the number of concurrent processes running in the system. This non-scalability of context switch times leads to diminishing returns when, for example, upgrading to a faster processor in order to support more interactive users.

To Access Resource:

Questions? Email Resource Support Contact:

  • opensky@ucar.edu
    UCAR/NCAR - Library

Resource Type publication
Temporal Range Begin N/A
Temporal Range End N/A
Temporal Resolution N/A
Bounding Box North Lat N/A
Bounding Box South Lat N/A
Bounding Box West Long N/A
Bounding Box East Long N/A
Spatial Representation N/A
Spatial Resolution N/A
Related Links N/A
Additional Information N/A
Resource Format PDF
Standardized Resource Format PDF
Asset Size N/A
Legal Constraints

Copyright Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.


Access Constraints None
Software Implementation Language N/A

Resource Support Name N/A
Resource Support Email opensky@ucar.edu
Resource Support Organization UCAR/NCAR - Library
Distributor N/A
Metadata Contact Name N/A
Metadata Contact Email opensky@ucar.edu
Metadata Contact Organization UCAR/NCAR - Library

Author Sloan, John
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library
Publication Date 1992-01-01T00:00:00
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Not Assigned
Alternate Identifier N/A
Resource Version N/A
Topic Category geoscientificInformation
Progress N/A
Metadata Date 2023-08-18T18:02:49.223685
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::technotes:145
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Sloan, John. (1992). Context Switch Time Scalability: Benchmark Results. UCAR/NCAR - Library. http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7z60nfk. Accessed 10 February 2025.

Harvest Source