Online algorithm for application layer anycast

Application layer anycast possesses the property of flexibility, however, all the proposed application layer anycast routing algorithms are based on probing so far. One disadvantage of probing algorithms is that there are too many probing packets, which degrade the network performance, wast network bandwidth. In this paper, we propose an online algorithm, balance algorithm, for application layer anycast. Compared with the probing algorithms, the proposed algorithm has no probing cost at all. We model the two kinds of algorithms, and analyse the performance of the two algorithms. The results show that the online balance algorithm is better than the probing algorithms in terms of performance. A simulation is conducting as future work.<br />