Walnut/Persistent Secure Distributed Computing

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Persistent Secure Distributed Computing

There is a problem with the programs we explored in the last chapter. The MarketPlace server, the RaceTrack server, and eChat are not persistent: once you shut them down they are gone forever. You can start up a new server with the same code, but it will not return to life with the same URI it had before. As a consequence, if you restart a server, you must redistribute the capability to access that server to all the users. This is a logistical nightmare. When we restart one of these servers, it must be able to restart with the same vatID and object IDs it had before.

If E simply allowed objects to remember their own URIs, there would be extensive opportunities for object forgery in the mobile code systems described in the next chapter. To prevent such forgeries, E uses swiss bases for persistence.

Swiss Bases

Example: Persistent eChat

Next Section: Secure Mobile Code

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