2K^Q: Resource-Aware Middleware for Active and Configurable Distributed Services

Abstract

Rapid growth of distributed services in heterogeneous environments calls for an adaptive and unified QoS framework, which allows flexibility and configurability in distributed service provisioning. In this paper, we present a resource-aware and component-based middleware called 2K ^Q. 2K^Q enables active and configurable distributed services in highly dynamic and heterogeneous environments. The key idea of 2K ^Q is dynamic and resource-aware service configuration. Multiple service configurations are defined for the delivery of one distributed service: each service configuration consists of a different set of service components. At runtime, 2K ^Q dynamically select an appropriate service configuration for each service request, based on the current end-to-end resource availability condition. If a service component is not available on a host, 2K ^Q will initiate active downloading of this service component. The selected service configuration performs customized service delivery with satisfactory QoS to the requesting client. Our prototype of 2K ^Q as well as an example Video Streaming service on top of it demonstrate the soundness of 2K ^Q.