Paper Review:
A Reliable Multicast Framework for Light-weight Sessions and Application
Level Framing
Reviewer: Robert Dugas
Problem
Although many solutions have been propsed to support mulitcast for
different application requirements. A general frame work to support all
requirements, however, risks compromising too much in an attempt to please
everyone.
Contribution
This paper analyzes the SMR system in terms of both efficiency and
scalability.
Main Ideas
- Push multicast functionaly to a minumum and let applications
include enhancement as necessary (a variant of the end to end
argument)
- SMR framework provides a scalable solution to the multicast problem
- The use of ADU namespace adds to the efficiency of mulitcast
communications
Critique
Significance:4
The multicast scheme proposed by the authors appears
to represent a significant advance in this realm. The papers we have read
to date take the approach of optimizing a specific mulitcast scenario
whereas this paper achieves a more generalizable results.
Methodology:
The paper conducts extesive testing with the wp application. These results
seem convincing but it is unclear that they can be extended effectively
as yet.
Limitation:
As the authors' main point seems to be adaptability and broad ranging
applications, it seems odd that their testing focused on only wb. A more
substantial testbed would have been more convincing.
Lessons:
Pushing functionality down to the application level most often produces
optimal results.