Usage Agnostic Overlay Operation in RELOAD
Qualcomm, Inc.
RELOAD [1] defines an overlay framework for providing peer-to-peer connectivity and storage/retreival primitives for applications. Applications or usages are expected to reside on top of such an overlay. In general, this is a good design that allows multiple applications to use the same overlay framework. In such a design, however, there are some decisions to be made in terms of what is an overlay function and what must be defined by a usage. These decisions should generally be based on whether the particular function is expecting an operation or guarantee from the overlay nodes in general or from a particular usage only. This type of separation is especially crucial to avoid needing flag days for upgrading nodes in order to accommodate a newer usage version for performing the overlay operation.