Distributed Application Management and its use inLive Object Applications

Dr. Kenneth BirmanDept of Computer Science, Cornell University

Distributed Application Management

We define as “distributed services” used to help applications bootstrap, monitor their environment and status of peers, etc

Normally a very ad-hoc challenge Cornell building what we hope could

become a standard DAMS for general use

This talk: Mostly: “Why are we doing this”? Our funding just started…

Definition: Mashup Standards-based synthesis of multi-source

data. Enables nimble information-driven

responsiveness

Google Maps, Google Earth

General Dynamics: Command Post of the

Future

Well supported by standards

Based on web services Mashups “generated” mostly on data

center Exported to users through

Javascript/AJAX A powerful distributed programming

language Runs in browser– as if it was an

operating system

Network

How hosted mashups work

Prevailing model is that each mashup source sends a minibrowser to the end user Has its own controls, which is good But can’t add new functionality Can’t exploit “direct” protocols

Contrast: edge mashups Pull content from various sources But combine them into an information-enabled

solution in the client system(s)

Traditional vs Edge Mashup

Left: Traditional mashup has a separate mini-browser for each content source

Right: Edge mashup is seamless, even though data came from “competing” sources

But hosted systems scale poorly

Data: Compares six major GIG technology options

Left: “durable” mode, right faster “non-durable” mode

In both cases performance collapses with more clients

Live Information Objects Cornell developed edge (client-side) mashups

Live Information Objects

This leads us back to the Distributed Application Management challenge When edge mashups are launched the

peers need to discover one-another and self-configure

May encounter issues of firewalls, QoS, etc

We’re building and using the DAMS for this But designing it as a general, scalable

new Internet service

Components of Live Objects Platform

Desktop: Edge-mashup technology with typed

components Data Centers: Hosted content encapsulated as Live Object

Components

Peer-to-Peer protocols for fast

event, data replication

Distributed Application

Management Service(DAMS)

DAMS used to automate

bootstrapping, locking, etc

Our NSF-sponsored research DAMS will be a chameleon

Able to mimic DNS, lock service like Chubby, active registry/directory, group management

Live objects will use for rendezvous, self-configuration but other applications could find the DAMS extremely valuable too

Internally: a hierarchically scalable consensus mechanism with a novel form of self-stabilization to handle severe failures

Early signs that we can outperform today’s DNS…

Learn more?

http://liveobjects.cs.cornell.edu

Or come ask me for a Live Objects demo!

Papers on DAMS should be out by sometime in early fall, aiming for a useable distribution in 2010 – open source, no “IP”