Jini™ Specifications, The, Second Edition

LR.1. Introduction

Leasing is a key concept in the Jini architecture; in general, Jini technology-enabled services (Jini services) grant access to a resource only for as long as the clients of those Jini services actively express interest in the resource being maintained. This pattern is in contrast to many other systems, in which access to a resource is granted until the client explicitly releases the resource. Using a leasing model generally makes a distributed system more robust by allowing stale information and services to be cleaned up, but it also places additional requirements on clients and services.

A client of a leased service may run into difficulties if that client deactivates. Unless the client ensures that some other process renews ...