Group communication as a base for a load-balancing replicated data service

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-111).by Roger I. Khazan.M.S

Collusion-Resistant Group Key Management Using Attribute-Based Encryption

This paper illustrates the use of ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE), a recently proposed primitive, in the setting of group key management. Specifically, we use the CP-ABE scheme of Bethencourt, Sahai and Waters to implement flat table group key management. Unlike past implementations of flat table, our proposal is resistant to collusion attacks. We also provide efficient mechanisms to refresh user secret keys (for perfect forward secrecy) and to delegate managerial duties to subgroup controllers (for scalability). Finally, we discuss performance issues and directions for future research

Multicast group communication as a base for a load-balancing replicated data service

as a Base for

A one-round algorithm for virtually synchronous group communication in wide area networks

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2002.Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-165).Group communication services, and especially those that implement Virtual Synchrony semantics, are powerful middleware systems that facilitate the development of fault-tolerant distributed applications. In this thesis, we present a high quality, theoretical design of a group communication service that implements Virtual Synchrony semantics and is aimed for deployment in wide-area networks (WANs). The design features a novel algorithm for implementing Virtual Synchrony semantics; the algorithm is more appropriate for WANs than the existing solutions because it involves fewer rounds of communication and operates in a scalable WAN-oriented architecture. The high quality of the design refers to the level of formality and rigor at which it is done: The design includes formal and precise specifications, algorithms, correctness proofs, and performance analyses. We develop the necessary supporting theory and methodology required for producing and evaluating this design. In particular, we develop a formal, inheritance-based, methodology that supports incremental construction of specifications, models, and proofs. This methodology helps us manage the complexity of the design and makes it evident which part of the algorithm implements which property of the system. We also develop new, formal approaches in the area of performance evaluation.by Roger I. Khazan.Ph.D

A Client-Server Approach to Virtually Synchronous Group Multicast: Specifications, Algorithms, and Proofs

This paper presents a formal design for a novel group multicast service that provides virtually synchronous semantics in asynchronous fault-prone environments. The design employs a client-server architecture in which group membership is maintained not b

Categories and Subject Descriptors

We establish a new worst-case upper bound on the Membership problem: We present a simple algorithm that is able to always achieve Agreement on Views within a single message latency after the final network events leading to stability of the group become known to the membership servers. In contrast, all of the existing membership algorithms may require two or more rounds of message exchanges. Our algorithm demonstrates that the Membership problem can be solved simpler and more efficiently than previously believed. By itself, the algorithm may produce disagreement (that is, inconsistent, transient views) prior to the “final ” view. Even though this is allowed by the problem specification, such views may create overhead at the application level, and are therefore undesirable. We propose a new approach for designing group membership services in which our algorithm for reaching Agreement on Views is combined with a filter-like mechanism for reducing disagreements. This approach can use the mechanisms of existing algorithms, yielding the same multi-round performance as theirs. However, the power of this approach is in being able to use other mechanisms. These can be tailored to the specifics of the deployment environments and to the desired combinations of the speed of agreement vs. the amount of preceding disagreement. We describe one mechanism that keeps the combined performance to within a single-round, and sketch another two