Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1996 19:30:21 GMT
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Last-modified: Tue, 15 Aug 1995 15:26:42 GMT
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Computer users benefit greatly from being able to work cooperatively, but they are often limited by constraints of geography, administrative boundaries, and the existing state of distributed systems. Sharing data and setting up shared environments across networks like the Internet are difficult tasks. The only tools available are primitive and offer limited functionality. Most cooperation between geographically or administratively distant areas is performed solely through electronic mail.
The Truffles project seeks to improve the tools available for cooperative work. The first such tool addressed by Truffles is file-sharing. Since much data is stored as files, the ability to share such data flexibly and securely will greatly facilitate the performance of cooperative work. A file-sharing tool for this environment must handle some difficult problems, such as secure transport of data, limited trust between the sharing parties, failures of the communications media between partners, difficulty of setting up the shared environment, and performance issues.
The diagram above illustrates a Truffles system working over the Internet. Three different sets of files are being shared among four sites spread across the country. One set of files is being shared between UCLA and ISI, another between UCLA, ARPA, and TIS's Maryland office, and a third between ARPA and TIS. The systems involved in each relationship can access the files they share, but not the files shared with any other system. Thus, ISI cannot access the files UCLA shares with TIS and ARPA.
Originally, Truffles provided this service by marrying two existing technologies: Trusted Information Systems' (TIS) Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) and UCLA's Ficus optimistically replicated file system. PEM allows secure, authenticated, reliable setup services. Ficus addresses issues of availability of the data and performance by keeping data local. The Truffles project extended these services and created new software to deal with some of the problems discussed previously.
The resulting system demonstrated the feasibility of the concept. However, difficulties regarding the installation of Ficus and PEM, and the legal and practical questions of distributing the Ficus kernel (which was based on SunOS 4.1.1) limited the practical utility of Truffles. The ongoing work is directed towards producing a public-domain, highly portable, easily installable version of Truffles called User-Level Truffles. User-Level Truffles will rely on a user-level file replication service called web page that presents their perspective on the Truffles project.
Date: August 15, 1995
Technical Contact: Peter Reiher (reiher@cs.ucla.edu)
WWW Contact: Janice Martin (jjmartin@cs.ucla.edu)