Using Lime to Support Replication for Availability in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) define a challenging computing scenario where access to resources is restrained by connectivity among hosts. Replication offers an opportunity to increase data availability beyond the span of transient connections. Unfortunately, standard replication techniques for wired environments mostly target improvements to fault-tolerance and access time, and in general are not well-suited to the dynamic environment defined by MANETs. In this paper we explore replication for mobility in the context of a veneer for Lime, a Linda-based middleware for MANETs. This veneer puts into the hands of the application programmer control over what to replicate as well as a set of novel replication and consistency modes meaningful in mobile ad hoc networks. The entire replication veneer is built on top of the existing Lime model and implementation, confirming their versatility.