Policy--mechanism separation

As with many aspects of computing in general, and distributed computing in particular, the separation of policy and mechanism is of considerable importance. Policy is a matter of distributed scheduling; deciding which process to move and to where. The migration subsystem enables the policy to be effected. Maintaining a separation between the migration policy and the mechanism used to implement it has benefits both in easing the initial implementability of the system and in simplifying changes in policy made to cope with changed operational circumstances.