1. What kind of functions to use for handling time out 

use "time()" and "difftime()"

2. Strategies for load balance

Consider two servers s1 and s2.
Let c(s1) and c(s2) be the numbers  of clients  
served by s1 and s2, respectively.

A simple and efficient strategy is: 
    (i)   choose a constant r 
    (ii)  if c(s1)/sc(s2)>r or c(s1/c(s2)<1/r  then 
          re-distribute the clients. 

YOU CAN PROPOSE YOUR OWN STRATEGY.


3. Measures for the performance of your system
   See the paper "A group communication system for heterogeneous network",  
   distributed in week 1, Semester A. 

   To obtain the measures, you need to do simulations  on your system.
   The clients will  automatically generate messages according to 
   some random functions. 

(Part 3 is  NOT required. Bonus will be given for simulations.)