Fundamental operational laws of computer system performance

Summary A number of laws are derived which establish relationships between throughput, response time, device utilization, space-time products and various other factors related to computer system performance. These laws are obtained through the operational method of computer system analysis. The operational method, which is formally introduced in this paper, differs significantly from the conventional stochastic modeling approach and is based on a set of concepts that correspond naturally and directly to observed properties of real computer systems. The operational laws presented in this paper apply with complete precision to all collections of observational data, and they are similar to fundamental laws found in other areas of engineering and applied science.A preliminary version of this paper was published in the Proceedings of the IFIP/ACM SIGMETRICS International Symposium on Computer Performance Modeling, Measurement and Evaluation, Cambridge (Mass.) March 1976, p. 200–210