CoRA - A Heuristic for Protocol Configuration and Resource Allocation

Da CaPo (Dynamic Configuration of Protocols) provides an environment for the dynamic configuration of protocols. Implementations of single protocol mechanisms (called modules) represent the building blocks. This paper describes the heuristic CoRA (Configuration and Resource Allocation) developed in the context of Da CaPo. CoRA configures protocols at runtime with respect to application requirements, properties of offered network services and available resources in the end systems. The goal of the configuration is to support a wide range of Quality of Service (QoS) requirements with protocols that are optimally adapted to what is needed (i.e., to increase protocol performance by decreasing protocol complexity). Generally, the problem of protocol configuration is quite complex because the set of all possible configurations might be rather large. The classification of building blocks and a measure for the resource usage of building blocks are combined in a structured search approach enabl..