Resource Contention

Resource contention occurs when the demand for a certain resource exceeds the supply for that resource. When various processes require the same resource, one process often utilizes the resources first, leaving the other processes in limbo until the resource is made available. Typically, when this occurs the other processes likely experience a reduction in their performance. Resource contention can cause unexpected project delays and are often difficult to identify and resolve. For instance, public cloud configurations are often prone to resource contention issues due to their wide pool of resource requestors. These requestors are often various companies that wish to access cloud storage to store business data or perform other business processes using other cloud resources. The more processes that share a specific resource, such as a cloud network or storage space, the more difficult it will be for resources to be properly allocated, causing resource contention.