A Virtual Registry For Wide-Area Messaging

Tycho is a reference implementation of a combined extensible wide-area messaging framework with a built in distributed registry for publishing and discovering remote end-points. This paper describes the architecture of Tycho as well as the design and functionality of its virtual registry (VR). We explain why we have designed Tycho to reuse existing infrastructure where possible and the advantages of a messaging system with a built in registry. We discuss the pluggable design of the VR and how that can be used to provide inter-operation with other systems. After highlighting our innovative use of the Internet relay chat protocol within the VR, we present the results of a series of tests designed to measure the performance of the VR. We then compare the performance of Tycho with R-GMA and Globus´s MDS4, which have similar functionality. The paper concludes with a number of observations about Tycho´s VR performance, functionality, and how these can be enhanced in the future