IMPLEMENTATION OF A RELIABLE MULTICAST PROTOCOL

A reliable multicast protocol (RMP) based on a logical token ring appr oach can achieve agreement of a group of operational processes in dist ributed systems. The structure of RMP is modulated into component prot ocols that achieve total ordering, atomicity of multicast messages; dy namic group configuration and fault-tolerance cooperatively. RMP uses a virtual token to order multicast messages in a logical process ring, It is highly efficient over networks and its algorithm design and imp lementation are presented, The use of a state machine approach simplif ies this complex system implementation, Experience and lessons drawn f rom RMP and general techniques applied to group communication protocol are also described. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.