Real-Time Control and Management of Distributed Applications using IP-Multicast

A central issue within any distributed computer environment is how to control and manage installed software and running applications. With control and management, we mean both how to make permanent changes to installed software and real-time control of running applications. This paper presents a framework for control and management of distributed applications and components using IP-multicast. The framework allows for easy and scalable control of single applications, groups of applications or parts of applications using a new agent based architecture. Messaging is done using the Control Bus and the Scalable Reliable Real-time Transfer Protocol for reliable distribution of data. The paper also presents an application called multicast Manager - mManager, a prototype Java implementation that provides a user interface to the framework. The mManager allows administrators to get an overview of currently running applications and if necessary control these applications. The framework includes ..