© 1978 by British Computer Society
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A note on a performance of VM/370 in the integration of models and data bases
Center for Information Systems Research, Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
As the proliferation of programming systems and data base system continues and, correspondingly, as the need for integrating these systems for certain applications increases, VM/370 offer a mechanism for such integration. This paper analyses the performance of a configuration of virtual machines using VM/370 that allows for the sharing of a data base system among several incompatible programs in an interactive environment.
Specifically, two aspects of performances are addressed – an experimental study of the overhead cost incurred in the interface mechanisms employed, and a theoretical study of the degradation of response time due to the locking mechanisms employed. The conclusion of the experimental observations is that for sophisticated, complex accesses to the data base system, the overhead costs are relatively small. The result of the theoretical study is the quantification of that degradation as a function of speeds of the data base machine and the rate with which queries are made. The discussion of the practical implications of this theoretical study presents ways to improve this degradation. The observed conclusion of this work is our feeling that, for certain application areas, the benefits resulting from increased effectiveness of users outweigh the costs incurred.
Received May 1975. revised June 1976.
* Center for Information Systems Research, Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA