AgentOS: The Agentbased Distributed Operating System for

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AgentOS The Agent-based Distributed Operating
System for Mobile Networks
Salimol Thomas
Department of Computer Science Illinois Institute
of Technology, Chicago
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Distributed Mobile Computing
Characteristics
- Wide area - Mobile Host (Laptop) - Nomadic
Users - Heterogeneous
Requirements
- Flexibility - Mobile Computing - Support for
disconnected network - Fault tolerant - Security
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AgentOS is the solution. It is designed to
support distributed mobile computing.
Capabilities
Foundations
- Agent based - Peer to Peer Networking
- Autonomous Migration - Intelligent Routing -
Disconnected Computing
Advantages - Simple and powerful distributed
model - Enhances flexibility and fault tolerance
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What is Agent ?
Agent is a process that can perform certain tasks
Reactive Senses changes in the environment and
acts according to those
changes. Autonomous Has control over its
actions. Goal Driven is proactive Continuos is
active till its termination.
Agent
Mobile
Stationary
(like a conventional server)
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Mobile Agent
Searching different databases
agent

• It has the unique ability to transport itself
  from one system
• in a network to another
• Suspend execution at any point in time,
  transport itself to a new
• machine and resume execution
• Continuos interaction with agents originating
  source is not required

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Advantage of mobile agents
Reduction in network load
RPC based
Agent Based
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Support for disconnected operation
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AgentOS architecture

• Completely redesigned OS
• Svahnberg, 98

- Task/Agent based system - Offers flexibility

• AgentOS on top of the conventional operating
  system
• 
  Kothari, 97
• - Easy to implement
• - Less cost

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AgentOS Architecture ( contd..)
Svahnberg, 98
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AgentOS Architecture (contd..)
AgentOS on top of the Conventional operating
system
Examples Aglet, Concordia etc.
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Distributed Operating system services
Chenb, 97
- Load Balancing - File System - Resource
Allocation - Distributed Computing - Fault
Tolerance
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Load Balancing

• A job originates at Host A

• Host A ask for bids from all the nodes

• Nodes bids

• Host A evaluate the bids

• Host A selects the best bid

• Host A transferred the
• job using an agent to the
• best bidder (Host D)

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File System
- Files can be made active by embedding each
document in an agent
- Each file agent will have its own security
behavior.
- File agent send updates to concerned parties
and also to the backup services
- Moves itself to the place where it is used most
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Resource Allocation
- Agents finds out the suitable resource - It
moves closer to the resource and if possible to
the device itself.
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Distributed Mobile Computing
Gray , 2001

• Flexibility Mobile Server - Client can write
  the service it wants.
• Connection less computing
• Conservation of bandwidth

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Fault Tolerance
- In case of failures, the owner of the agent can
be notified through event signal - Agent can
migrate itself to another host - When agents
migrates, it leaves behind a checkpoint of its
state.
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Security
Security is a concern, however there exists
security schema to prevent unauthorized,
unwarranted operations
- Public-Private key exchange - Digital
signature - Cryptography - Encryption
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Summary
AgentOS can provide better infrastructure for
distributed mobile computing
Agents can enhance the qualities and capabilities
of present distributed mobile computing system by
providing the following services - Intelligent
load balancing - Disconnected operation - Fault
Tolerance - Reduced Inter-node communication
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Application
- A distributed mobile computing application was
developed
Platform Used OS Windows 98 DATABASE SQL Server
7 AgentOS Aglet development kit (IBM)
Situation
A database called weather has daily temperature
values of last 20 years. Somebody wants to
calculate the average temperatures. Result set
would consist of 7300 rows. The person uses his
laptop to connect to the network and launch an
agent. Then he gets disconnected. When he
becomes online again, the agent sends him the
message.
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Agent structure
Guard Agent
Nomad Agent
OnCreation dispatch( destination ) run get
data from the database process them try sending
result to Guard until success Terminate
OnCreation launch nomad MessageHandle Displ
ay the result received from nomad