A Study oI Mobile Agent-based InIormation

Searching System
Jingsheng Zhao, Jiapeng Zhang, Haiping Fang
College oI communication and electronic engineering, Qingdao technological university, Qingdao, China
zhaojingshengqtech.edu.cn
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. INTRODUCTION
At present, Web has become a global, distributed and
shared inIormation space, and it is annoying work Ior a
user who would like to Iind necessary inIormation
through the Web. The issue how to make use oI the
resources on the Internet reasonably and eIIiciently has
become an important concern oI the researchers. The
searching engine, as an eIIective inIormation retrieval
utility, provides users with great convenience. Traditional
searching engine is a C/S structure system, it collects all
the webpage it could through the ultra-large-scale search,
and then constructs local database and provides
inIormation services to the users. This method can locate
inIormation on the Internet to some extent, while because
oI the inherent deIects; the searching rapidity can hardly
make Iurther improvement. The deIects are listed as
Iollows: poor perIormance in real-time inIormation
acquiring. The database oI the searching engine cannot
respond and update its correlative contents to the change
oI the original webpage, and cannot provide users with
the latest inIormation; poor perIormance in inIormation
guidance. The engine cannot ascertain the knowledge
domain oI the inIormation, resulting in the emergence oI
large numbers oI irrelevant inIormation; poor
perIormance in inIormation exchanging. Commonly used
search engines provides services Ior a very large number
oI users, even with the use oI high-perIormance hardware
and soItware systems it is diIIicult to provide rapid
response; the eIIiciency oI inIormation retrieval is low,
search engines need to take up a large amount oI network
resources. For the traditional engine use the centralized
collect method, the search scope and precision is limited,
and would result in a large number oI redundant
inIormation transmission. Mobile agent technology come
into people`s vision and apply to inIormation searching
on the Internet, it carries out a lot oI experience and
provides users convenience. The searching engine based
on the mobile agent technology has overcome the lack
and deIiciencies oI the traditional searching system,
provides users with Iast, accurate and real-time
inIormation retrieval services, and maximizes savings in
resources oI the servers and network bandwidth.
. THE MOBLIE AGENT TECHNOLOGY
Mobile Agent is an independent computer program,
which can independently migrate Irom one host to another
in heterogeneous networks in accordance with a certain
orders. It can seek appropriate resources available Ior
computing. It can handle and use these resources in the
advantage oI the agent is in the same host or network, and
achieve speciIic task on the behalI oI the user. Commonly,
mobile agent has the ability oI communicating with other
agents independently, so the task assigned by the user
could be achieved by a group oI synergic agents |1|. The
main Ieatures oI mobile agent includes |2, 3|:
A. Save network banawiath ana reauce latency
Mobile agent technology packs the request in an agent
and dispatches it to the target host. The dispatched agent
executes request in the data and return the Iinal outcome
without transmitting the results oI intermediate data. So,
the whole procedure avoids a large amount oI network
data transmission, and reduces the reliance on the
network bandwidth.
B. Support for offline computing
Mobile agent will change mobile-data into mobile-
code, make the calculation based on mobile agent can
directly interact with the resources. User tasks can be
embedded in mobile agents and then send them out
through the network. Since then, the mobile agent is
independent oI the process which generates it, and can
operate asynchronously and independently. Callback and
reconnection could be used to the dispatched agent when
needed.
C. Support for heterogeneity
Mobile agent technology is independent on computer
architecture and the transport layer, allowing the
heterogeneous network platIorm. And thus it provides
condition Ior seamless connectivity oI distributed
inIormation system.
D. Autonomy
Mobile agent can choose routes according to its tasks
and network situation. And its route can be changed in
ISBN 978-952-5726-06-0
Proceedings of the 2009 International Workshop on Information Security and Application (IWISA 2009)
Qingdao, China, November 21-22, 2009
2009 ACADEMY PUBLISHER
AP-PROC-CS-09CN004 209
the case oI network condition changes, which makes the
mobile agent with the state oI non-anticipated and
adaptability, hence a robust and better Iault-tolerant
distributed inIormation system could be deducted.
. THE MOBILE AGENT-BASED SEARCHING ENGINE
It is an urgent task to the industry oI the inIormation
service Ior improving the quality oI the service, changing
the inIormation overload` and inIormation wandering`
situation existed in the current service considering about
the aIIluent content in the Web. The characteristics oI
mobile agent technology adequate the demand oI
inIormation service rightly. SpeciIically, the mobile agent
applied to inIormation service mainly achieves Iunctions
as Iollows:
x Navigation, that is, to tell the user where the very
resources are;
x Answering, that is, to answer the user according to
the resources in the net about the speciIic domain
question;
x Filtering, that is, to screen out the inIormation
accord with the rules speciIied by the user;
x ClassiIying, that is, classiIy and sort the resources
downloaded by the user;
x Discovery, that is, to screen out and abstract
ponderable inIormation Irom the large numbers oI
original one, and publish it to correlative user;
x Dispatch, that is, to dispatch the agent to remote
host in order to search inIormation and create index oI
the searching results, and return the indexes to the local
server.
A. Structure ana Function
With the use oI mobile agent technology, we construct
Mobile Agent-based InIormation Searching System
(MAISS) rather than the traditional client/server mode, to
help users Iinding and paying close attention to the
interested inIormation. The structure is shown in the
Figure 1.
This system can achieve inIormation searching
services in the local and remote servers, while the local
service correspond to the request Ior the local area
network inIormation and the remote service correspond
to the request Ior the Internet inIormation.
B. Implementation Mechanism
The system can be constructed by a development tool
called 'Aglet. Aglet is developed by IBM Japan, Iully
realized with Java development tools, in order to Iacilitate
the people on the basis oI the development oI mobile
agent system. The word 'aglet is Iormed by 'agent and
'applet, stands Ior a java applet perIorms agent Iunction.
So Iar, Aglet is the most successIul and practical
development platIorm in developing mobile agent
executive system, which mainly reIlects in:
x provide a simple and comprehensive programming
model Ior mobile agent;
x provide mobile agent Ior a dynamic and eIIective
communication mechanism|4|;
x provide a set oI detailed and easy-to-use security
mechanisms.
1 InterIace Agent
InterIace agent is a static agent, the main Iunction is to
accept the user's query request and help users reIine
queries and display results. InterIace agent is also
responsible Ior displaying the content oI local inIormation
database, and reIlecting the dynamic changes in the local
inIormation database |5|.
InterIace agent consists oI Iour parts: user interIace, a
port connects with management agent, analytic inIerence
engine and a port connects with knowledge base.
Normally, interIace agent is a GUI; the port connects with
management agent deIines the rules and methods in
communication with other agents; analytic inIerence
engine is the brain oI the interIace agent, which is
necessary Ior interacting with domain knowledge base,
including lots oI algorithms and rules used to analyze and
reasoning; the port connects with knowledge base is
responsible Ior collecting the searching interests and
habits oI users, and generalizes domain knowledge.
2Management Agent
Management agent is also a type oI static. In order to
get the requested inIormation uttered by users, an
inIormation searching agent should be generated, then
pitch on a searching mode, and set various parameters
and searching tasks according to the searching mode.
Management agent receives the request Irom user Irom
interIace agent, then speciIies a task according to access
node inIormation and the description oI a task, at last
generalizes inIormation searching agent and start it.
Management agent makes similarity comparison
between interest patterns oI users and the documents in
the personalized knowledge base. II the similarity is more
than a threshold value, it will see it as user interest
inIormation, then send the inIormation to user with the
push technology, hence satisIy user better. Management
agent is also acting as the server oI the mobile agent, and
is responsible Ior inIormation broadcasting, security
control and keeping eyes on the changes in the network.
3InIormation Searching Agent
InIormation searching agent is generalized by the
management agent. It is responsible Ior collecting and
dealing with the request submitted by the interIace agent,
realizing the communication with the knowledge base,
and making intelligence collation about the searching
results. According to the speciIied request uttered by user,
it generals several searching sub-targets and searches
inIormation with a combined method Irom local and
remote servers and hosts.
InIormation searching agent changes into various types
oI local inIormation agent according to the various types
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Figure 1. The Mobile Agent-based InIormation Searching System (MAISS)
Local
Remote
User
InIormation searching agent
Local inIormation agent
Local
inIormation
server
Searching
engine
InterIace agent
Management agent
Mobile agent
Mobile agent platIorm
Knowledge
base
Mobile agent
manager
Agent dock server
Internet
Remote
inIormation
server
Mobile agent
platIorm
Mobile agent
manager
Agent dock server
oI the searching mode selected by user, and begins local
searching. It can also change into mobile agent iI
necessary. It is worth notice that a big multiple nested
hash table should be packed with all oI the code and
data. It is convenient to carry and use Ior the mobile
agent because the initialize parameter on creating
mobile agent could only be an object. Management
agent mark down the register code oI the mobile agent
aIter the mobile agent is created, so the mobile agent
can terminate the searching and be destroyed
immediately by the order oI user, besides the auto-selI-
destroy in a certain period oI time according to its inner
global parameter and the return to the birth place.
4 Mobile Agent
II request calls Ior searching in remote equipment,
inIormation searching agent visits mobile agent
manager, then inIormation searching agent change into
mobile agent, and registers in the mobile agent manager,
then gets into the state oI mobile agent through the
process oI mobile agent platIorm. The mobile agent
begins operation oI inIormation searching with the
induction oI platIorm, when reaches the target. The
mobile agent returns the result to user aIter the
searching operation is done. The inIormation returned is
presented to user in interIace agent aIter process. The
construction oI mobile agent is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. The structure drawing oI mobile agent
Interacting
module
Reasoning
control
center
Routing
table
InIormation
base
5 Local InIormation Base and Local InIormation
Agent
Local inIormation base is used to store the
inIormation user like and needed to preserve. The
stored inIormation is classiIied by subjects, it is good
Ior
searching eIIiciency, oI course, other classiIy method
could be used in storing inIormation. It is also available
to store inIormation with user-deIined classiIying mode.
Local inIormation agent is a type oI static agent. It is
responsible Ior the searching in the local database.
Local inIormation agent is a simpliIied system oI
inIormation searching agent. It is a soItware module oI
inIormation searching agent which the parts connecting
with mobility are shielded.
6Knowledge Base
The knowledge base stores the domain oI knowledge
related to users, acts as an important role in the whole
system. In the process oI executing inIormation
searching, query, re-analysis and relevance Ieedback
need the interaction and cooperation with knowledge
base.
Reasoning control center is the core control module
oI the mobile agent; it carries on message
communication with other mobile agents through the
interaction module, and decides the next target to move
according to the instruction oI the inIormation base and
routing table. The inIormation base is data structure to
store inIormation ported by the mobile agent. It can be
vector table or stack. Initially, it is used to store some
keywords table. Gradually, mass oI inIormation is
stored in the inIormation base with the progression oI
motion. The routing table is responsible Ior the path
selection oI mobile agents (see C.1)). The interaction
module realizes the communication with other agents
(see C.2)).
7 Agent Dock Server
Agent dock server is a relay station oI mobile agent;
it supplies service oI temporary storage Ior mobile
agents and its search results. During the motion oI
mobile agent, the user`s searching task may be carried
in one independent mobile agent while it could be under
several agents` eIIort. II the mobile agent cannot contact
with the target when it is returning, at this time, the
211
mobile agent or search result can be stored into the
agent dock server temporarily. Agent dock server is
responsible Ior recording all oI the stored agent and its
correlative inIormation, such as ID number, source
address, target address and so on. Agent dock server
also monitors the network situation, inIorms stored
agent to return once.
8 Resource Server
Resource server includes local and remote
inIormation servers. Resource server may contain the
inIormation users want, and also should include agent-
recognition and security-management mechanism (see
C.3)).
C. The Analysis on Key Technology
In the MAISS system, how to send a mobile agent to
a target host to achieve searching task, how does the
MAISS do iI the mobile agent cannot Iind any
correlative inIormation in target and the issue about the
interaction among agents are key technologies. The
security oI mobile agent is also important.
1) Path Planning For the Mobile Agent
When a mobile agent is sent, it may search in several
websites. So, system should plan a best moving path
according to the current task and network condition,
make mobile agents achieve the whole task at the least
cost.
Mobile agent path planning involves three issues:
x the list oI hosts storing inIormation;
x analysis on the possibility oI Iinding
inIormation in the hosts;
x current network situation
Dartmouth University has deIined a method as a
solution in mobile agent path planning recurred to the
traveling salesman problem in the operational research
|6|. In the MAISS system, according to this notion, the
planning structure is shown in Figure 3.
Mobile agent manager is built Ior planning. It is
consist oI planning module, network monitoring
module and blackboard service. When mobile agent
gets the task oI searching inIormation, it contacts the
planning module Iirstly, and then the planning module
asks Ior the target address which mobile agent may Iind
inIormation and the possibility conjecture on Iinding
inIormation. Network monitoring module returns the
conditions about machine situation, network connection
latency and bandwidth with the inIormation which is
supplied by the planning module. With this parameter,
the planning module can Iigure out the path route Ior
the mobile agent.
2) The Communication between Mobile Agents
Communication is an important aspect oI the mobile
agent system; it is the Ioundation oI the realization oI
the cooperation between agents. Agent cooperates with
others in a consultative way which they send and
receive messages Irom each other rather than command
the others. The communication oI the static agents
recurs to the messages mechanism oI the mobile agent
system, no additional supplies. The communication
between mobile agents or between mobile agent and
static agent, the possibility oI Iailure in message
delivery is very high. So, we must take Iull account oI
the communication service between mobile agents.
Every mobile agent can set its own message manager,
in order to manage the messages received or to be sent.
Mobile agent manager has communication center, Iorm
a global message buIIer queues in the whole network.
Every agent can apply Ior a mailbox to the
communication center, and put the message which
cannot be sent to the other agent into the mailbox, it
also can receive messages sent to it. Communication
center schedules and manages these messages globally,
and ensures the high eIIiciency and reliability oI the
communication among agents, avoids the problems oI
Iailing in communication brought by network Iailure
and server down.
3) The Security oI Mobile Agent
The security oI the mobile agent system includes two
aspects, the protection oI hosts and protection oI mobile
agent|7,8|. We can adopt the mechanism based on
authentication, authorization and resource allocation to
protect the hosts.
a) Authentication. Host can connect a mobile
agent with its author, sender or the marker oI the
machine Iorward it previously, and call Ior the
authentication in a certain Iorm. Such as the use oI
digital signatures, the signature oI the execution
environment oI the mobile agent and all the mobile
agents and their start time and so on. The receiving host
can check up the signatures and distinguish the author
and sender oI the mobile agent.
b) Authori:ation. We can assign the purview to
one mobile agent once we know who charge Ior the
agent. A host can decide the purview oI every mobile
agent in visiting, and set resource have some ability that
can make mobile agent show its purview when agent
visit it. The solution is the purview a mobile agent gains
is available only in the current host, it is disabled once
the agent is away Irom the host.
c) Resource allocation. A host need allocate the
resource to competitive mobile agents, so it should deal
with the request in time, to satisIy the resource request
oI authorized mobile agents. In addition, mobile agent
should pay Ior the depletion in the resources, which
Figure 3. Path planning system Ior mobile agent
Network
statistics
Network
monitoring
module
InIormation
Location
location
Mobile
agent
Planning
module
Blackboard
service
Network
inIormation
Query Query
request
Query
212
makes the issue oI resource allocation change to the
issue oI master and protect the money Ilow.
. SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK
Today, computer networks is increasing day by day,
more and more searching engines bring great
convenience to people with the work searching
inIormation on the Internet. However, there are some
problems in the traditional searching methods. The
import oI mobile agent into the domain oI network
inIormation searching, search Ior inIormation has
injected new vitality. The Mobile Agent-based
InIormation Searching System (MAISS) proposed in
this paper, provides a new way oI thinking in improving
network inIormation searching, and obtains good results
Irom the searching system based on the model in the
campus network. Further research need to be done in
system eIIiciency, the cooperation among mobile agents
and security. Should be noted that apply mobile agent,
the executive environment should be installed into the
searched servers. As a result oI the current standard has
not Iormed yet, the supportive environment is rare, so
the MAISS system cannot be used widely and need
Iurther research. However, in a smaller scope such as an
enterprise, university, it is easier to install the same
executive environment Ior agent. So the main market oI
the new searching engine is the search in the intranet.
The thinking oI MAISS change the traditional structure
oI the searching engine, its realization is to try many
new technologies, we hope a positive impact on Iurther
research.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank Dr. Ji aiguo, ProIessor
Wang Rihong and Zhang Xiuhong. This work was
supported in part by a grant Irom Gong Yuxi.
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