Dynamic mobile agents

摘要

An improved method and apparatus for dynamic execution of mobile agents. For example, a symbolic name for a component to be executed can be dynamically resolved using a component directory to determine an appropriate network host that the agent needs to visit. Preferably, the component directory can be queried by client or host machines, and updated by component hosts. Changes in a component's location and/or availability can also be captured at runtime and the agents dynamically routed to alternate component hosts. Still other features enable agents to flexibly accommodate the dynamics of the system. For example, if the attributes of a component are modified, or a component host becomes heavily loaded, agents can adapt to such changes by looking up an alternate host for the same component. Yet other features provide improved system manageability. For example, component hosts can freely update a component's location and/or attributes at any time. Changes to code for agents that use components residing at an updated component location are not required.