Distributed Network Overlay with MST Routing

Project Overview

This project implements a distributed messaging system consisting of a centralized Registry and multiple Messaging Nodes. The system builds a logical overlay network over TCP, where nodes communicate by routing packets along a Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) computed from dynamic link weights.

The system ensures reliable, loop-free message delivery and provides detailed traffic summaries to verify data integrity across the entire distributed environment.

System Architecture

1. The Registry

Handles:

• Node registration and de-registration.
• Randomized link weight assignment (1-10).
• Orchestrating the connection topology to prevent network partitions.
• Aggregating global traffic statistics.

2. Messaging Nodes

Responsible for:

• Establishing server sockets and managing concurrent TCP connections.
• Computing the MST rooted at themselves to determine routing paths.
• Relaying packets en route to their final destination.
• Maintaining long-integer summations of payloads to verify data integrity.

Technical Specifications

• Language: Java (Standard Edition)
• Networking: TCP/IP (Sockets & ServerSockets)
• Concurrency: Multi-threaded message handling and relaying.
• Algorithms: Minimum Spanning Tree (MST), Breadth-First Search (BFS) for tree visualization.
• Data Integrity: Validated via global summation of 32-bit random integer payloads.

How to Run

1. Start the Registry:

   java csx55.overlay.transport.Registry [port]

2. Start Messaging Nodes (on different terminals or machines):

   java csx55.overlay.transport.MessagingNode [registry-host] [registry-port]

3. Setup the Network: In the Registry CLI, run:
   • setup-overlay 4 (Sets 4 connections per node)
   • send-overlay-link-weights
   • start 5000 (Initiates 5000 rounds of messaging)