On the Problem of Over-clustering in Tuple-based Coordination Systems

When it comes to communication performance, open distributed tuple-space systems depend heavily on the proximity of tuples to processes. Researchers have proposed many approaches for storing tuples in a way that processes benefit from the organization of tuples. Although some progress has been made, most of the proposed solutions fail to address the reverse problem: if most tuples are kept close to processes, the system´s robustness is affected - the over-clustering of tuples in particular nodes creates a dependence on that particular node. Hence, we have a dichotomy where it is important to organize tuples in clusters close to processes, but it is equally important to avoid over-clustering. This paper presents a self-organized solution to the tuple distribution problem, in which the possibility of over-clustering is considered.