Neil Nelson wrote:

> Although I do not understand well where you are going. your primary

> requirement would seem to be that I provide you with names and their

> IP and port numbers from the dynamic IP server on request.  We previously

> had an ICSA command for doing that, but I do not remember at the moment

> what it is.  I will put a flag in the names record that indicates that a

> name

> is part of the ICI node (3D) network and then dump those names to you on

> request for those names that decide to participate in the 3D network.  And

> then early on I think I can make my Win98 box part of the 3D network to

> assist your development.  And I expect you will want to have the

> information in a particular format, which is?



All of the functionality of ICI is in the functions. The functions

recieve commands and send back the results. This is clear I suppose?



Now if my node is in a cluster and has a command for a specific

function, what does it do with it? The command needs to get executed,

that is simple once you have a destination computer, you simply send the

command there. But with just a command and a cluster, one needs a

destination first. Clear so far?



To get that destination, I have introduced the Echo function, which

will, very simply, take a command and return a destination. The Echo

function works by broadcasting the command and then gathering the

responses by a special system. So now we are broadcasting. Understood?



In order to broadcast, one needs to go down a list of all members of the

cluster and send the message to everybody and then expect a rush of

replies from every single member. See the problem? So in order to avoid

that problem, we split the global cluster to subclusters, which are now

easier to handle.



This is when the ICSA comes into play, because it is the thing keeping

the connections, the broadcasts and the member (node) lists!



This in fact isn't an already solved problem, because I expect you will

know better, since you have the more detailed knowledge of the function

of ICSA. The ICSA will require to automaticaly organize the hub network.

This would be done so that as soon as it forms a flat cluster, it will

ping everybody and add togather the delay conunts, then determine which

member of the Cluster has the lowest count, and record that member's

name as the current cluster's hub. That hub would then keep two seperate

clusters, that is: The current one, also available to the ICI Console

and an independend upper cluster, containing any other hubs the

adminisitrator might connect it too. This upper cluster would then again

from another hub network, etc (you understand the hub network managment

procedures will need to be duplicated only once, because each hub

cluster appears as an ordinary cluster?).



The ICI Console will handle the function stuff, so we will have to

create some extra vocabulary to stick with this architecture. Namely the

type of broadcast that broadcasts in the upper hub cluster.



Perhaps I have dug a little too much into practical details. I will see

how everything is going and see how can I do my part. 



C'ya!



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