1 /*
2 * Copyright (c) 1998-2002 The Jgroup Team.
3 *
4 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
5 * it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2 as
6 * published by the Free Software Foundation.
7 *
8 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
9 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
10 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
11 * GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
12 *
13 * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
14 * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
15 * Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
16 *
17 */
18
19 package jgroup.core;
20
21 import java.net.InetAddress;
22 import java.net.UnknownHostException;
23
24 /**
25 * The purpose of the <code>VMID</code> interface is to uniquely
26 * identify a Java Virtual Machine. Each <code>VMID</code> instance is
27 * composed by an IP address and an incarnation time.
28 *
29 * @author Alberto Montresor
30 * @since Jgroup 0.7
31 */
32 public interface VMID
33 extends java.io.Externalizable
34 {
35
36 /**
37 * Returns the IP address of the host on which the virtual machine
38 * identified by this <code>VMID</code> is being executed.
39 */
40 public InetAddress getAddress()
41 throws UnknownHostException;
42
43
44 /**
45 * Returns the time at which this <code>VMID</code> has been created.
46 */
47 public long getTime();
48
49 } // END VMID