JGroupSpace: Combining shared spaces and groups

We describe a Java-based distributed group programming interface - JGroupSpace. Its distinctive characteristic is the combination of multiple forms of communication within the group, based on message-passing, asynchronous event notification and a shared tuple space, and their integration to ensure the consistency of the views observed by the group members. For the application developer these communication forms match typical interaction patterns: point-to-point, multicast, events, and information sharing. In the model, groups act as confined spaces for interaction and cooperation, allowing the design of a distributed application in terms of multiple collections of cooperating processes. We describe how JGroupSpacewas implemented on top of an existing group communication platform - JGroups - and we discuss alternative distributed implementations of the group shared tuple space.

1. INTRODUCTION

The increasing complexity and scale of distributed applications has motivated the use of groups. By supporting the organization of an application in terms of collections of entities that may change dynamically, and share information or common goals, group models ease the development of dynamic distributed applications. This was recognized in different contexts, such as CSCW and groupware, multiagent systems, P2P and social networking.