C.3 Execution and Placement

Execution and placement require two related views: where components run and connect, and how a host schedules their work. Keeping those views separate lets review distinguish changes to topology from changes to execution policy.

Engineering question. Where does work run, and which scheduling decisions may change with the host it runs on?

Representation. Use separate views for topology and host policy.

Figure C.3-1 shows the stable graph with the policy as a separate layer beneath it.

Stable topology, variable Host Execution Policy — the deploy graph holds; the policy varies A stable engineering view runs left to right along solid arrows: web, queue, worker, storage. From the worker a dashed scheduled-under arrow drops to a Host Execution Policy table, the variable overlay. The table maps host profile to scheduling: elastic fans out, metered gives a bounded fan, scarce serializes. No heavy boundary appears here — the figure is descriptive, and the representative rule is that load rationing belongs to scheduling policy, not to the deployment topology, and no deploy edge is added per host. Legend as in Figure C-1; this figure shows a representation that stays advisory, with authority left to Part III. Weight and dash carry the meaning without colour. Question: where does work run, and which decisions vary by environment? STABLE ENGINEERING VIEW web queue worker storage scheduled under DERIVED HOST EXECUTION POLICY host profile scheduling elastic fan out metered bounded fan scarce serialize Load rationing belongs to scheduling policy, not deployment topology. Legend: see Figure C-1. No gate here: the policy is a representation; Part III decides any authority.
Figure C.3-1. Stable topology, variable execution policy. Deployment topology remains stable while host profiles select different scheduling behavior.

Property. A host's concurrency ceiling belongs to scheduling policy, not to the deployment graph.

Authority and correspondence. Deployment configuration reconciles against the topology; scheduler behavior reconciles against the host execution policy. Either finding may remain advisory or feed a deployment or scheduler gate.

© James C. Davis, 2026–present