Publication

Abstract : We propose the design of a Session Transfer Protocol (STP) that allows a client to download a large file replicated across several servers. STP runs at the session layer, on the top of the standard Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). A client can sequentially download the entire file from one or more servers, from one server at a time, with just one TCP session. A STP Server, currently sending the contents of a file to a client, can proactively detect congestion in the network and transfer a file download session to another peer STP Server that is located in a different network. At any stage (initial session establishment or session transfer), the STP Client chooses a particular server by executing certain selection tests among the servers in the list sent by the STP Gateway, which is the public face of the cluster of STP Servers in the Internet. Unlike the traditional File Transfer Protocol (FTP) that requires users to repeatedly initiate the entire download process upon the failure of each FTP connection, STP is seamless, incremental and provides improved Quality of Service while downloading a large file. The user working at the STP Client is unaware of the congestion and resulting session transfer to a different STP Server. STP is security-aware and has appropriate encryption, authentication and anti-spoofing features incorporated at different stages of its execution. © Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2012.