In this paper, we propose a remote healing approach for computer systems based on backdoors, a system architecture that supports monitoring and repair actions on a remote operating system or application memory image without using the processors of the target machine. A backdoor can be implemented using the remote memory communication technology provided by communication standards like Virtual Interface Architecture or InfiniBand, specifi- cally its support for remote DMA read and write operations. We discuss the potential and challenges of backdoor-based remote healing and describe a preliminary prototype we developed as proof of concept.
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@misc{ sms03sultan,
author = "F. Sultan and A. Bohra and I. Neamtiu and L. Iftode",
title = "Nonintrusive Remote Healing Using Backdoors",
text = "F. Sultan, A. Bohra, I. Neamtiu, and L. Iftode. Nonintrusive Remote Healing
Using Backdoors. In Proc. 1st Workshop on Algorithms and Architectures for
Self-Managing Systems, June 2003.",
year = "2003"}