A Java-Based Model of Resource Sharing among Independent Users on the Internet

Abstract

A recently proposed model of resource sharing among autonomous computers on the internet extends the sharing beyond data to hard resources such as processor (both main and coprocessors) and archival storage. Storage sharing increases storage reliability by replicating the data on the disks of cooperating users across the internet. Processor sharing gives a user access to another user’s main processor (as well as graphics hardware, non-standard processors, etc.) based on the latter’s altruism or some kind of barter arrangement. A Java environment in which such sharing can be implemented is described. Implementation of storage sharing is relatively simple, but processor sharing is more complicated. A method for forming resource-sharing communities is presented. In this method, a bulletin board hierarchy is used to direct participants to an appropriate community of common interest, and a Java-based mechanism for sharing resources within such a community is presented. The suitability of Jini to an implementation is also discussed.