Virtual Nodes: a re-configurable replication framework for highly-available grid services

Abstract

We present Virtual Nodes, a framework to provide fault-tolerance for grid applications by replicating them over multiple nodes. For the performance of replicated systems it is crucial that the application characteristics and load pattern are taken into account when the replication protocol is selected. For that reason Virtual Nodes offer a wide variety of configuration parameters that allow to fine-tune framework properties to optimise the overall system performance.