Optimal scheduling in queuing network models of high-volume commercial web sites

The optimal control of various performance-based measures in high-volume commercial web sites requires a fundamental understanding of the interactions between the diverse set of Internet services that support customer needs and the different importance levels of these services to both the customer and the e-commerce merchant. We present here a study of the control policy for each server in a multiclass queuing network that maximizes a particular function of profit, or minimizes a particular function of cost, across the different classes of Internet services. © 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.