Leasing Variants in Distributed Systems

In recent years, the leasing concept has become increasingly popular in the field of distributed systems; main examples are JINI and the introduction of leasing to the CORBA context. Nevertheless, no detailed analysis of leasing variants and their fields of application has been done yet. In this paper, we give a systematic classification of possible leasing variants, discuss their advantages and disadvantages and point out their possible uses. In this context, we dispose of the restriction that resource claimants are not capable of waiting for a resource; an assumption made in hitherto literature for simplicity reasons. Furthermore, we consider possible mechanisms on which to base lease renewal decisions that go beyond the simple rules examined in previous works. In the process, we hint at how existing leasing approaches have to be enhanced to accomplish these relaxations