Abstract
We present a model of searching for a resource in a distributed system whose nodes are connected through a store-and-forward network. Based on this model, we show a lower bound on the number of messages needed to find a resource when nothing is known about the nodes that have the current location of the resource. The model also helps us to establish results about the time complexity of determining a message optimal resource finding algorithm when the probability distribution for the location of the resource in the network is known. We show that the optimization problem is NP-hard for general networks. Finally we show that optimal resource finding algorithms can be determined in polynomial time for a class of tree networks and bidirectional rings. The polynomial algorithms can be used as a basis of heuristic algorithms for general networks.
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This work was supported in part by NSF grants CCR-8806358 and NCR-8604850
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Bernabéu-Aubán, J.M., Ahamad, M. & Ammar, M.H. Resource finding in store-and-forward networks. Acta Informatica 28, 657–680 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01178681
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01178681