FLIP: An Internetwork Protocol for Supporting Distributed Systems

摘要

Most modern network protocols give adequate support for traditional applicationssuch as file transfer and remote login. Distributed applications, however, have different requirements. To meet these new requirements, the authors have designed a new protocol, called the Fast Local Internet Protocol (FLIP). FLIP is an unreliable datagram protocol that provides both point-to-point communication and multicast communication, and requires almost no network management. Furthermore, using FLIP they have simplified higher-level protocols such as remote procedure call and group communication, and enhanced support for process migration and security. A prototype implementation of FLIP has been built as part of the new kernel for the Amoeba distributed operating system. The implementation demonstrates the FLIP is not only better suited for distributed computing than existing protocols, but is more efficient as well.