SAFE TUPLESPACE-BASED COORDINATION IN MULTIAGENT SYSTEMS.

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Title:	SAFE TUPLESPACE-BASED COORDINATION IN MULTIAGENT SYSTEMS.
Authors:	Minsky, Naftaly H.¹, Minsky, Yaron M.², Ungureanu, Victoria¹
Source:	Applied Artificial Intelligence. Jan2001, Vol. 15 Issue 1, p11-33. 23p.
Subjects:	LINDA (Computer system), Computer systems, Parallel programming
Abstract:	Linda is a high-level coordination model that allows agents to interact via shared tuplespaces without knowing each other's identities and without having to arrange for a definite rendezvous. This high level of abstraction would make Linda particularly suitable for use as a coordination model for heterogeneous distributed systems, if it were not for the fact that the Linda communication is unsafe. In order to enhance the safety of tuplespaces, this article introduces a mechanism for establishing security policies that regulate agent access to tuplespaces. This mechanism is based on a previously published concept of law-governed interaction. It makes a strict separation between the formal statement of a policy, which one calls a "law," and the enforcement of this law, which is carried out by a set of policy-independent trusted controllers. A new policy under this scheme is created basically by formulating its law, and can be easily deployed throughout a distributed system. Two example policies are discussed here in detail: one ensures a secure bidding policy; the other prevents denial of service, by regulating the flow of requests sent to the tuplespaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
	Copyright of Applied Artificial Intelligence is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database:	Engineering Source

Description
Abstract:	Linda is a high-level coordination model that allows agents to interact via shared tuplespaces without knowing each other's identities and without having to arrange for a definite rendezvous. This high level of abstraction would make Linda particularly suitable for use as a coordination model for heterogeneous distributed systems, if it were not for the fact that the Linda communication is unsafe. In order to enhance the safety of tuplespaces, this article introduces a mechanism for establishing security policies that regulate agent access to tuplespaces. This mechanism is based on a previously published concept of law-governed interaction. It makes a strict separation between the formal statement of a policy, which one calls a "law," and the enforcement of this law, which is carried out by a set of policy-independent trusted controllers. A new policy under this scheme is created basically by formulating its law, and can be easily deployed throughout a distributed system. Two example policies are discussed here in detail: one ensures a secure bidding policy; the other prevents denial of service, by regulating the flow of requests sent to the tuplespaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	08839514
DOI:	10.1080/08839510150204590