[E-Lang] Re: Distributed Toontalk (was: VLS for everyone)

[Bill Frantz]

At 9:13 AM -0800 3/26/01, Ken Kahn wrote:
>I have plans to implement an NLS (Nest Location Service) to remedy these
>problems. The plan is that when a nest comes on-line (by which I mean it is
>converted from a saved format into a live running object) it registers with
>an NLS as to how to reach it. When a bird receives a box to deliver, it uses
>the IP address of where her nest was created as a hint and also queries the
>NLS for the most up-to-date information and the location of any copies of
>her nest. (This hint is probably critical when using birds to implement
>networked games. Also the hint is the only way to find the nest when on a
>LAN without access to an NLS.)
>
>I'm also planning on having the NLS store copies of messages so that when a
>nest comes on-line it receives all the messages that have been sent since it
>was last on-line.
>
>For practical reasons I plan to remove entries from the NLS that are too
>old - maybe a few weeks after their last use.
>
>...
>
>Perhaps I'll be able to implement the NLS by adapting the VLS code.

Some questions.

What does Toontalk use for a port number?  Is it a well-known port number?

Is the identity of the Toontalk nest just the IP number, or does it contain
additional information.  In other words, what would a requester pass to a
NLS to ask for a particular nest.

In the last E VLS, the vat identity is the hash of it's public key.  The
port number was registered as part of the registration process (along with
the IP address).

Do you plan any kind of authentication on the registration.  One attack we
thought of on the VLS was making a vat unreachable by registering a false
IP address with the VLS.  The suggested fix for this attack is to require
that the registration be signed.  Note that the VLS would only have to
check the signature when it had a current registration for the vat, and the
new registration changed the IP address or the port.

Cheers - Bill


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