Dynamic reconfiguration with I/O abstraction

Dynamic reconfiguration is explored in the context of I/O abstraction, a new programming model that defines the communication structure of a distributed system in terms of connections among well-defined data interfaces of encapsulated modules. We present a new module migration mechanism that avoids the expense and complication of state extraction techniques, minimizes the amount of code required for migration and confines that code to a separate section of the program. The migration mechanism is designed to permit migration across heterogeneous hosts and to allow replacement of one implementation by another, even if the new implementation is written in another programming language. The properties of I/O abstraction, particularly the clear separation of computation from communication and the availability of a data interface, help simplify the reconfiguration strategy.