Program product for obtaining the state of network resources in A distributed computing environment

A computer program product for processing a request from a requester for a state of a network resource in a distributed computing environment, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable medium for storing a computer readable program code therein;
• computer readable program code means recorded on said computer readable medium, said computer readable program code means comprising:
• computer readable program code means for receiving a request for a state of a resource, said request comprising an identifier of a prespecified network resource;
• computer readable program code means for identifying a provider associated with an indicator of states of said resource, said indicator indicating the states of said resource and said provider obtaining the states from said indicator and providing it to said requester, said states being provided to said requester irrespective of whether the resource has changed location in the network;
• computer readable program code means for initiating the operation of said indicator such that said indicator places said state in a memory device shared with said provider so that it may be observed by said provider;
• and
• computer readable program code means for observing by said provider, said state in said shared memory device for obtaining a state of said resource from said indicator.