Mobile Services Flashcards

1
Q

Distinguish user and device mobility

A

Device mobility (with user):

  • Services should be robust against short outages and delays, allow operation while offline
  • Favors implementation on device side

User mobility (across device):

  • User can switch devices to use app or service
  • Independence of device platform, OS, form factor - devices are just a window to the state
  • Favors keeping all state on the server side (e.g. IMAP)
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2
Q

Name 6 application classes

A
  1. Content & service retrieval:
    - RO access to data pool (maybe tailored to user requests)
    - e.g. Webbrowsing
  2. Database Interactions - Exclusive:
    - RW access but one place for each user, mostly async
    - e.g. Online stores, social networks
  3. Database Interactions - (possibly conflicting):
    - RW with possible conflicts
    - async: e.g SVN
    - sync: e.g. shared editors
  4. Data collect and crowdsourcing
    - WO, might contain slow feedback loop for content retrieval
    - e.g. traffic data
  5. Real-time meda
    - End-to-end: voice call
    - Server-mediated: gaming
    - Server-originated: streaming, conferencing
  6. Local apps
    - No connectivity, might come with server interaction (updates, stats)
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3
Q

What are Over the top services (OTT Services)

A

Anything that is a favor of end-to-end from a network operator perspective

  • Differentiates from operator-provided services
  • Is essentially an overlay
  • > All internet services

Different flavors: Simple client-server system, Cloud-based services, peer2peer networks

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4
Q

What is on-path caching?

A

Requests traverse the network on their way to origin server and get answered if a cache on path holds a copy of the resource

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5
Q

What is off-path caching?

A

Caches conspire to deliver content (likely orchestrated by backend)

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6
Q

What is reactive caching?

A

Define 2 policies for each cache:

  • Caching policy: which new piece of content 2 store?
  • Eviction policy: Which piece of content 2 remove when full?

Cache size > working set of objects

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7
Q

What is proactive caching?

A
  • Backend-controlled decisions which content items are pushed to cache.
  • Explicit support for geo/topology support
  • Caching choices could use heuristics based on history
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8
Q

What are content distribution/delivery networks?

A
  • CDN provides establish points-of-presence in different ISP networks
  • Content providers sign contracts for content provisioning
  • Content providers publish content to CND
  • CDN providers monitor the network and maintain closest server information to route requests to the closest location
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9
Q

What content can typically be delivered in CDNs?

A

Static web content: pages, images
Multimedia streaming
Local advertisements

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10
Q

What is edge computing?

A

Edge computing is providing resources closer to the mobile user: Computation, storage, information

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11
Q

What is fog computing?

A

Computing “wider than the edge”
Collaborative computing involving end user devices near the user at the edge.
-> Enabling computation for IoT

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12
Q

Name 3 possibilities to implement virtual servers in MANETs

A

Choose one node:

  • Establish knowledge about the available nodes, elect leader, determine backups
  • Replication & liveness checks necessary

Distributed:

  • Define algorithm to allocate responsibilities to all nodes
  • Define repl strategy

Super peers:

  • hybrid of above
  • super peers chosen based upon their expected availability
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13
Q

What issues in terms of responsibility do we have to handle for MANETs?

A

Election process: measure reachability, include node properties in hello msgs, define tie breakers

Backup: determine replicas and try to sync, Backups monitor origin to take over if necessary

Handover/Failover: Backups recover state locally or cooperatively as far as possible (ideally: master hands over data before leaving), update service discovery

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14
Q

Name some limitations of MANETs

A

1 size: Number of nodes part of network, control traffic, & data traffic congestion on shared medium

2 node movement and instability: Leads to continuous updates and may complicate reaching service nodes, node churn due to mobility

3 Incentives for service provisioning: Storage and computation, batter lifetime

4 Security

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15
Q

What are opportunistic networks? Name some characteristics

A

Disconnected network segments that might connect at some point in time (when nodes reach each other)

  • delay tolerant networking operation: interactions might take time, hard to tell response delay
  • Chatty protocols won’t work: self-contained messages are required
  • No global view: Individual views usually not consistent, small groups of nodes may have a common understanding
  • Many established building blocks won’t do
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16
Q

What are challenges for opportunistic networks?

A
  • Multihop service discovery is hard
  • Server-side functionality: Service logic goes into user app; data aggregation & processing happens one step at a time
  • Storage: Backend database necessary for the services: distributed, partial; no complete view, no consistency
  • Authentication: User-to-system - PKI? user-to-user - PKI? Even harder in disconnected env
  • Availability and scalability: Nodes mostly work by themselves, replication doable but no coordination
  • Service reliability and timeliness: a node may never get back an answer
17
Q

What kind of applications could work in opportunistic networks?

A
  • Async apps
  • Read-only content or read-write with distinct objects
  • sequence of operations should not matter
  • partial knowledge is sufficient
  • no structure: replicate objects
  • open sharing (rather than closed groups)
18
Q

What problems arise in an mobile-device only opportunistic network?

A
  • Device-to-device comm is tricky: mobile OS not optimized
  • How to bootstrap mobile device
  • Just using mobiles may not reliable: fluctuation in device density, potentially shorter range
  • Predictable storage locations desirable: apps need to keep their data somewhere
19
Q

What functions do assist nodes offer?

A
  • Relay: store-keep-and-fwd msg; time-shifted communctation
  • Data repository: store content persistently, more storage, better availability
  • Service provider: add application specific execution logic, data maintenance, updates, security and write ops
  • Access enabler: interface to different types of mobile devices, provide a web view on data