Design , Implementation and Performance of aMutex - Token based Fault - Tolerant Tuple

LiPS 1 is a system for distributed computing using idle-cycles in networks of workstations. In its version 2.3, it is currently used at the Universitt at des Saar-landes in Saarbr ucken, Germany to perform computationally intensive applications in the eld of cryptography and computer algebra on a net of approximately 250 workstations. It should be enhanced to work on more than 1000 machines all over the world within the next years. The LiPS system provides its user with the tuple space based generative communication paradigm of parallel computing as known from the coordination language Linda 2. The core of the LiPS system is the Fault-Tolerant Tuple Space Machine replicating the tuple space. The implementation, based on the protocols given in ADM + 93], is set up on a mutex token based membership protocol for handling crashing and joining tuple space servers, and a closely related total order protocol which establishes a linear order among all tuples. The linear order on tuples is used to speed up replication of reading tuple space accesses and decreases the memory requirements for message logs. As it is possible to add or remove tuple space servers at runtime, eeciency/reliability can be adjusted to the application needs.