The A³ fault-tolerant framework for distributed computing with multiple mobile agents over sizeable networks

We are proposing the A³ fault-tolerant framework for distributed computing with multiple mobile agents over sizeable networks. A³ fault tolerance includes three objectives, namely, access security, agent persistence, and avoidance of long queuing time. The last two objectives are achieved by agent mobility. The prototype for this framework was verified over the Internet, a typical sizeable network, with selected sites that include part of our university's intranet and other local Internet sites, as well as the stable Java-based Aglets mobile-agent platform. Results from the verification exercise with this prototype indicate unanimously that the A³ framework is indeed a fault-tolerant solution for distributed computing with multiple mobile agents over sizeable networks. Access security is achieved by formation of communes, namely, villages and public intranets. These communes protect themselves by denying accesses by non-members to the shared communal resources. The smallest commune is a village, and different villages are interconnected automatically by mediators or connectors into a larger commune known as the public intranet, which has a different connotation from the conventional one that is formed for institutional privacy and integrity. Agent mobility for achieving agent persistence and avoidance of long queuing time depends on the instantaneous values of the migration indices, which are computed from the specific sets of run-time parameters