Distributed simulation of coloured Petri Nets: A case study using distributed caches

A typical problem when executing simulation of large and complex Coloured Petri Nets (CPN) is the excessive demand for computational resources. In some cases, slowness is the major problem, but in extreme situations, simulation can abort before completion. In addition, to analyze and extract results from large simulation models can be quite complex. An alternative way to deal with these problems is to fragment large CPN models into smaller nets and conceive models as distributed systems (DS). In this work, we present the Distributed Fusion Places (DFP), one new node to compose distributed CPN, which support communication and interaction between geographically dispersed subnets, which together make up a larger, unique and coherent model. In this way, different processes execute subparts of a single model, processing part of the computational effort needed to simulate the global model. Results obtained from distinct parts of the model can be analyzed individually or consolidated to represent the overall system operation. To demonstrate and validate this approach, we have introduced CacheSIM, a simulator conceived to analyze file admission and substitution policies in systems with distributed caches.