Logistical multicast for data distribution

This paper describes a simple scheduling procedure for use in multicast data distribution within a logistical networking infrastructure. The goal of our scheduler is to generate a distribution schedule that will exploit the best network paths by using historic network performance information. A "spanning tree" is constructed between available logistical depots to help reduce the overall time of data movement. Our hypothesis is that we can generate appropriate schedules from historical network measurements. In order to evaluate the scheduling procedure we have employed the multicast operation used in the Internet backplane protocol (IBP) middleware suite. Investigation into the merits of such a scheduling procedure involved a control group that performs a broadcast to a set of logistical depots and an experimental group that is configured to perform a multicast via schedules generated based on historical network data. All testing was conducted on PlanetLab, a distributed network service testbed.