CLUSTER-BASED NAMING FOR RELIABLE DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS.

Abstract

The authors introduce a new concept in naming for distributed systems, which is motivated by the need for easily-migratable objects, which is in turn motivated by the need for reliable operations. This naming scheme attempts to solve certain problems associated with correcting remote references to objects which are subject to migration. A name is divided into two parts, of which the first is used to locate the possible current sites of a target object and the second is used to select the specific site (and hence the object) in which the object is to be found. The set of possible sites constitutes a cluster. The authors discuss how clusters and cluster-based naming can be applied to enhance the migratability, and thus reliability, of a system in our context. The same scheme may be applied for other purposes such as load-balancing, protection, and support of transparent services.