Placement of nodes in an adaptive distributed multimedia server

Abstract

Multimedia services typically need not only huge resources but also a fairly stable level of Quality of Services. This requires server architectures that enable continuous adaptation. The Adaptive Distributed Multimedia Server (ADMS) of the University Klagenfurt is able to dynamically add and remove nodes to the actual configuration, thus realizing the offensive adaptation approach. This paper focuses on the optimal placement of nodes for hosting certain ADMS components (the so-called data collectors, collecting and streaming stripe units of a video) in the network. We propose four different algorithms for host recommendation and compare the results gained by running their implementations on different test networks. The greedy algorithm seems to be a clear looser. Among the three other algorithms (particle swarm, linear programming and incremental) there is no single winner of the comparison, they can be applied in a smart combination. © Springer-Verlag 2004.