Patent ID: 8296767

Claim:
A method of managing a plurality of contexts that execute on a computer system, said method comprising: communicating, at successive time intervals, with a plurality of physical processors to determine which of said plurality of contexts are scheduled to execute at the plurality of physical processors and which of said plurality of contexts are descheduled at said plurality of physical processors; for said plurality of contexts, recording an event count based on whether said plurality of contexts are scheduled or descheduled at said plurality of physical processors at each time interval; detecting skew using the recorded event count, wherein the skew occurs when a context in said plurality of contexts is descheduled while another context in said plurality of contexts is scheduled; quantifying an amount of said skew; and triggering a corrective action if said amount of skew fails to satisfy a threshold value, wherein: the event count is recording an event not related to time, and quantifying the amount of skew comprises quantifies an amount of time the context is behind the another context based on the event count.