determining host performance for task assignment

This has come up twice in the last several hours, so i figure
i'll ask for opinions here.

To determine a dynamic task assignment to hosts, i'm using a
/dev/perf that takes a simple 'calibrate x' command and reports
(based on "x") (1) a "bogusmips" value which is just the result
of a timed empty loop (2) a Dhrystone 2.1 value or (3) a Flops
number. The timing is based on wallclock time to give a measure
of system load.  I've glossed over some details.

This solution was thrown  together in a few minutes, and I don't think
very much of it. How do people here do this ? How is it proposed to
be done in 9grid (from reading the IPDPS paper I only grok
that details like processor speed and amount of memory will be
part of the information posted in /srv, or, via /dev/cputype). Thanks.

cheers,