Decentralizing a global naming service for improved performance and fault tolerance

Abstract

Naming is an important aspect of distributed system design. A naming system allows users and programs to assign character-string names to objects, and subsequently use the names to refer to those objects. With the interconnection of clusters of computers by wide-area networks and internetworks, the domain over which naming systems must function is growing to encompass the entire world. In this paper we address the problem of a global naming system, proposing a three-level naming architecture that consists of global, administrational, and managerial naming mechanisms, each optimized to meet the performance, reliability, and security requirements at its own level. We focus in particular on a decentralized approach to the lower levels, in which naming is handled directly by the managers of the named objects. Client-name caching and multicast are exploited to implement name mapping with almost optimum performance and fault tolerance. We also show how the naming system can be made secure. Our conclusions are bolstered by experience with an implementation in the V distributed operating system.