> > Network-wide unique identifiers like task-IDs, ports, etc... are a > > nice > > thing to have. One idea may be to organize all nodes of a collective > > in a distributed kind of (hurdisch) filesystem. IDs would then be > > simple paths and could be located with some kind of distributed > > lookup() functionality: > > > > /collective1/ # namespace for collective #1 > > /collective1/ipc/ # ipc namespace (ports...) > > /collective1/ipc/machine1/ # ipc namespace for machine1 > > /collective1/ipc/machine1/port1 > > /collective1/ipc/machine1/port2 > > ... > > > > /collective1/vm/ # namespace for VM objects > > /collective1/vm/machine1/vmobject1 > > /collective1/vm/machine2/vmobject25 > > ... > > Would not > > /collective1/ # namespace for collective #1 > /collective1/ipc/ # ipc namespace (ports...) > /collective1/ipc/port1 > /collective1/ipc/port2 > > be more useful? It would be useful if you want to blur the distinction between single machines. This may be useful in some cases (e.g. when the machines are set up in a symmetrical way, meaning all machines have roughly the same characteristics), but not in others.
Consider the case of some file servers, some compute servers and say, some routers and/or protocol converters. You want to access ports on specific machines for specific tasks. With the flat namespace, you can't easily discover which port belongs to which machine (at least not only by the pathname). Even hybrid settings could be possible: /collective1/compute-servers/ipc/port1 /collective1/compute-servers/ipc/port2 ... /collective1/file-servers/ipc/port1 /collective1/file-servers/ipc/port2 ... where 'compute-servers' and 'file-servers' would designate a group of similar machines which could be treated as a group. Using a flat-namespace would require an extended lookup a.k.a name resolution algorithm to finally map the port to a specific machine. It _could_ be done by the (distributed?) "translator" that serves the names (e.g. by the translator service the /collective1/file-servers hierarchy), but this would be added complexity. -Farid. -- Farid Hajji -- Unix Systems and Network Admin | Phone: +49-2131-67-555 Broicherdorfstr. 83, D-41564 Kaarst, Germany | [EMAIL PROTECTED] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - - - - One OS To Rule Them All And In The Darkness Bind Them... --Bill Gates. _______________________________________________ Bug-hurd mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-hurd
