Anonymous agreement: The Janus algorithm

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Abstract

We consider the consensus problem in an n-process shared-memory distributed system when processes are anonymous, i.e., they have no identities and are programmed identically. We present Janus, a new anonymous consensus algorithm that reaches decision after O(√n) writes in every solo execution. The set of values that can be proposed is unbounded and the algorithm tolerates an arbitrary number of crash failures. The algorithm relies on an anonymous eventual leader election mechanism. Furthermore, during solo executions in which a non-faulty process is elected since the beginning, the individual step complexity of Janus is O(n), matching a recent lower bound by Aspnes and Ellen (SPAA 2011). The algorithm is then extended to the case of homonymous system in which c, 1 ≤ c ≤ n, identities are available. In every solo execution, the modified algorithm achieves O(√n - c + 1 + log c/log log c) individual write complexity O(n - c + log c/log log c) and individual step complexity.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPrinciples of Distributed Systems - 15th International Conference, OPODIS 2011, Proceedings
Pages175-190
Number of pages16
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Dec 2011
Event15th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems, OPODIS 2011 - Toulouse, France
Duration: 13 Dec 201116 Dec 2011

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume7109 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference15th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems, OPODIS 2011
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityToulouse
Period13/12/1116/12/11

Keywords

  • Anonymity
  • asynchronous shared memory
  • consensus
  • failure detectors
  • homonym processes
  • indulgent algorithms

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