Efficiently Distributing Component-based Applications Across Wide-Area Environments

摘要

Distribution and replication of network-accessible applications has been shown to be an effective approach for delivering improved Quality of Service (QoS) to end users. An orthogonal trend seen in current-day network services is the use of component-based frameworks. Even though such component- based applications are natural candidates for distributed deployment, it is unclear if the design patterns underlying component frameworks also enable efficient service distribution in wide-area environments. In this paper, we investigate application design rules and their accompanying system-level support essential to a beneficial and efficient service distribution process. Our study targets the widely used Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) component platform and two sample component-based applications: Java Pet Store and RUBiS. Our results present strong experimental evidence that component-based applications can be efficiently distributed in wide-area environments, significantly improving QoS delivered to end users as compared to a centralized solution. Although current design patterns underlying component frameworks are not always suitable, we identify a small set of design rules for orchestrating interactions and managing component state that together enable efficient distribution. Futhermore, we show how enforcement of the identified design rules and automation of pattern implementation can be supported by container frameworks.