Distributed virtual hosts and networks: Measurement and control

Diverse network application requirements bring about local networks of various size, degree of complexity and architecture. The purpose of this paper is to present a network protocol layer which is used to provide a homogeneous operating environment and to ensure the availability of network resources. The network layer process probes the underlying local network to discover its properties and then adapts to changing network conditions. The principle contribution of this paper is to generalize properties of diverse local networks which can be measured. This is important when considering maintenance and service of various communication links. Three type of links are point-to-point links, multi-drop, loop or switched links and multi-access contention data buses. A prototype network is used to show a complexity improvement in the number of measurement probes required using a multi-access contention bus. Examples of measurement techniques and network adaption are presented.