An analysis of naming conventions for distributed computer systems

ABSTRACT

Name servers that collectively manage a global name space facilitate sharing of resources in a large internetwork by providing means of locating named objects. The efficiency with which the name space can be managed is strongly influenced by the adopted naming convention. Structured name spaces are shown to simplify name space management from both an administrative and system viewpoint. Formulae have been derived which allow one to quantitatively measure the effect of the distributed name server configuration on a given client's level of performance. In general, the cost of a name server query can be reduced by distributing replicated copies of name server database entries in a way that exploits the locality of clients' reference patterns.

REFERENCES

• 1: Andrew D. Birrell , Roy Levin , Michael D. Schroeder , Roger M. Needham, Grapevine: an exercise in distributed computing, Communications of the ACM, v.25 n.4, p.260-274, April 1982 [doi>10.1145/358468.358487]
• 2: Derek C. Oppen , Yogen K. Dalal, The clearinghouse: a decentralized agent for locating named objects in a distributed environment, ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS), v.1 n.3, p.230-253, July 1983 [doi>10.1145/357436.357439]
• 3: Jerome H. Saltzer, Naming and Binding of Objects, Operating Systems, An Advanced Course, p.99-208, January 1978
• 4: Saltzer, J. H., On the Naming and Binding of Network Destinations. Proceedings IFIP/TC6 International Symposium on Local Computer Networks, Florence, Italy, April 19-21, 1982, pages 311-317.
• 5: Michael D. Schroeder , Andrew D. Birrell , Roger M. Needham, Experience with Grapevine: the growth of a distributed system, ACM Transactions on Computer Systems (TOCS), v.2 n.1, p.3-23, February 1984 [doi>10.1145/2080.2081]
• 6: Shoch, J. F., Internetwork Naming, Addressing, and Routing. Proceedings 17th IEEE Computer Society International Conference (COMPCON), September 1978, pages 72-79.
• 7: Su, Z. and Postel, J., The Domain Naming Convention for Internet User Applications. Network Information Center SRI International, RFC 819, August 1982.
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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.4 Distributed Systems
          Subjects: Client/server

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.6 Internetworking
          Subjects: Standards (e.g., TCP/IP)

General Terms:
Performance, Standardization