NetScript: A Reliable, Component-Based Mobile Scripting Environment

Mobile agents are useful for certain classes of programs and for certain computing environments. Although a number of mobile agent systems have been built in the recent years, they are not in widespread use. One significant concern in using the mobile agent paradigm is the general lack of understanding of issues in providing reliability and tracking functions. The experimental work described here provides a data point towards this understanding. In this paper, we describe the reliability and tracking mechanisms built into a component-based mobile script environment called NetScript (formerly called NetPebbles). We implemented these features in two different ways; (1) using vanilla TCP/IP services; and (2) using a reliable messaging services product, IBM MQ Series. We measured their relative performance and scalability. The experience indicated that it is feasible to build a robust mobile agent system that scales well using either of these approaches.