A Programmable Network Virtual Machine
Abstract The increasing diversity of resources which is becoming available to users through the introduction of computer networks has opened up new areas of investigation. One of the problems encountered is that of providing uniform and common access procedures where functionally similar facilities exist on different systems. A lack of standardization in this area can inhibit the very benefits derived through the use of networks. Another aspect is the possibility of achieving genuine resource sharing among several different systems in the network. This can lead to the development of virtual systems that embody the most desirable characteristics of the various real component systems. One approach to solving these problems is to create an agent that is able both to automate remote access procedures on the user's behalf, and provide him with the most appropriate network interface. This paper describes the design of a multi-user virtual machine that is able to perform this role. The machine is programmable by a high-level language which has been specially designed to meet the requirements of a network access environment. It is conjectured that the use of a special purpose high-level language is a most flexible and powerful means of generating particular network agents and that this technique permits the automation of a wide variety of network access procedures.