| An intelligent content-based router should be designed to analyze data and find a suitable server for processing a client's request quickly and efficiently. Current content routers examine only the HTTP based URL request and routes the request to the “best” server for processing. These routers fail to examine different types of TCP-based user requests. The content router developed in this thesis examines all type of TCP-based requests. The content router is a core router that simply forwards packets to the edge routers for delivery after performing its content based processing. This router can be replicated to achieve higher performance in large networks. Moreover, by adopting a formal design approach, which is subject to mechanical evaluation using the Z-EVES tool, the correctness of the design is ascertained.; The objectives of this thesis are to: (1) Provide an object-oriented design of an intelligent content-based router (a network device that routes packets based on their contents) for e-commerce applications using the UML paradigm. (2) Model the design using the Z specification language to guarantee correctness and prove the reliability of the design. In particular, Z notation will provide the capability to capture both dynamic and static features and operations of the proposed content-based router. (3) Provide a prototype implementation of the design as a proof of concept. |
