MAWS: A platform-independent framework for mobile agents using Web services

This paper proposes a framework for a multiplatform mobile agent system based on Web services. The framework includes a mobile agent factory, the mobile agents, and the host Web services. The mobile agents are created at the factory, migrate between Web services-enabled hosts, and execute at the destination hosts through invocation by XML-RPC. The transfer of mobile agents is accomplished through the employment of SOAP attachments where service handlers are used at the source and destination hosts to attach and detach agent files, respectively. The framework was implemented using the Java Web Service Developer Pack (JWSDP) and tested on 20 Linux and Windows hosts within a Wide Area Network (WAN). The system worked seamlessly on all designated hosts (proving interoperability) while comparing well in terms of throughput to three well-known mobile agent systems, namely, Voyager, Aglets, and Concordia. This paper demonstrates how the proposed system can interoperate with existing systems and serve as a model for interoperability among them. The paper also illustrates how the mobile agent can be secured against confidentiality and integrity attacks during transport and suggests ways for protecting it from malicious hosts as well as guarding hosts from malicious agents. (C) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.