Joining a Distributed Shared Memory Computation in a Dynamic Distributed System

Abstract. This paper is on the implementation of high level communication abstractions in dynamic systems (i.e., systems where the entities can enter and leave arbitrarily). Two abstractions are investigated, namely the read/write register and add/remove/get set data structure. The paper studies the join protocol that a process has to execute when it enters the system, in order to obtain a consistent copy of the (register or set) object despite the uncertainty created by the net effect of concurrency and dynamicity. It presents two join protocols, one for each abstraction, with provable guarantees