Binary Version Management for Computational Grids

Applications are no longer monolithic files, but rather a collection of dynamically linked libraries, images, fonts, etc. For such applications to function correctly, all of the required files must be available and be the correct version. Missing files preclude application execution, and incorrect versions lead to mysterious and frustrating failures. This paper describes a simple scheme to address this problem: Content-Derived Names (CDNs). CDNs use digital signatures to automatically and uniquely name specific versions of files. Because Content-Derived Names are computed using a cryptographically strong hash over the text of a package, this process is safe from spoofing and other attacks based on providing the wrong library. We explain how CDNs ease the management of application distribution for clusters and grids. We also describe a prototype implementation of CDNs for the Tcl programming language.