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Enhancing dependability of cooperative applications in partitionable environments

  • Session 8 Replication and Distribution
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Dependable Computing — EDCC-2 (EDCC 1996)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1150))

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Abstract

This paper presents a pragmatic approach to providing partition processing system support for cooperative applications. A method for specifying and programming application-level partition processing strategies is described. The system support is based on a partition typing mechanism which allows the application programmer to model the relative importance of partitions. This is combined with a split/merge rules configuration table through which the partition processing strategy is defined. In the context of cooperative application semantics, our approach combines the correctness of the pessimistic, and the availability of the optimistic approaches for data management in partitionable environments. The paper focuses on the practical issues linked with, firstly, the specification, and secondly, the support at runtime, of the partition processing strategies. This approach is relevant in the context of large-scale asynchronous distributed systems such as the Internet, which, as a result of current technology and topology, are inevitably prone to partitions. Examples are given, illustrating how the partition support is used and combined with new feedback techniques in order to implement more robust cooperative environments.

This work was partially supported by the CEC, through Esprit Project BR 6360 Broadcast and CaberNet, Basic Research Network of Excellence 6361 in Distributed Computing Systems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute Superior Técnico, Technical University of Lisboa, Portugal

    François J. N. Cosquer & Pedro Antunes

  2. Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, R. Alves Redol, 9 - 6o, 1000, Lisboa, Portugal

    François J. N. Cosquer & Pedro Antunes

  3. Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, C5 Campo Grande, 1700, Lisboa, Portugal

    Paulo Veríssimo

Authors
  1. François J. N. Cosquer
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  2. Pedro Antunes
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  3. Paulo Veríssimo
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Editor information

Andrzej Hlawiczka João Gabriel Silva Luca Simoncini

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Cosquer, F.J.N., Antunes, P., Veríssimo, P. (1996). Enhancing dependability of cooperative applications in partitionable environments. In: Hlawiczka, A., Silva, J.G., Simoncini, L. (eds) Dependable Computing — EDCC-2. EDCC 1996. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1150. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61772-8_47

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61772-8_47

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-61772-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-70677-9

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