A Software Package Tool for Markovian Computing Models with Many States: Principles and its Applications

A computing system can be formulated by modeling a continuous-time Markov chain with many states, and be evaluated by using the reliability/performance measures. The randomization technique is discussed to derive the transient solution for a Markov chain. A software package tool is implemented by using the randomization technique and introducing a new idea of identifying when the transient solution converges to the steady-state solution in advance. Numerical examples are illustrated by using our software package tool to evaluate the optimal maintenance policies for computing systems. Some interesting maintenance policies are suggested from the numerical examples.