Protocol Discovery in Multiprotocol Networks

Abstract

Multiprotocol systems can be an important tool for achieving interoperability. As the number of protocols available on such systems grows, there is an increasing need for support mechanisms that enable users to effectively access these protocols. Of particular importance is the need to determine which of several protocols to use for a given communication task. In this work, we propose architectures for a protocol discovery system that uses protocol feedback mechanisms to determine which protocols are supported. We describe the issues related to protocol discovery and present feedback mechanisms necessary to support discovery. We present a prototype implementation of a discovery system that supports next generation IP protocols.