4 ms·

For those interested in a comparison to another popular consensus protocol, Paxos, see the two compared here by Heidi Howard and Richard Mortier, both of Cambri

by 0des 5y ago

For those interested in a comparison to another popular consensus protocol, Paxos, see the two compared here by Heidi Howard and Richard Mortier, both of Cambridge UK: https://www.ics.uci.edu/~cs237/reading/Paxos_vs_Raft.pdf https://www.ics.uci.edu/~cs237/reading/Paxos_vs_Raft.pdf Even for the uninitiated, the content is surprisingly digestible. The comparison and a brief description of the two begins in section 3.

wahern 5y ago
As always[1], this paper compares MultiPaxos, not Paxos. Paxos is more like the conceptual underpinning to a family of protocols, one leaf of which arguably includes Raft itself. A summary and evolutionary timeline (up to 2018) of the various algorithms in the Paxos lineage is https://vadosware.io/post/paxosmon-gotta-concensus-them-all/ https://vadosware.io/post/paxosmon-gotta-concensus-them-all/ Raft looks good next to MultiPaxos, but MultiPaxos is hardly the state of the art in the mainline Paxos lineage. MultiPaxos was published in 2001, over a decade before Raft. EPaxos is more of a contemporary to Raft, and arguably more in the spirit of Paxos as originally conceived--truly distributed, leaderless consensus. [1] Practically every paper discussing Raft, including the original Raft paper(s), aliases Paxos to MultiPaxos.
- hardwaresofton 5y ago
  Did I miss something newer from 2018+? I did an update recently thanks to some suggestions from HN: https://vadosware.io/post/paxosmon-2-the-journey-continues/ https://vadosware.io/post/paxosmon-2-the-journey-continues/ I haven't read any papers recently but if you know of some that are worth giving a read, please let me know!
- _benedict 5y ago
  Lamport intended MultiPaxos to be called Paxos, and it was described in his original Part Time Parliament paper which was written in 89 and published in 98. These days I think Paxos refers both to what Lamport thought of as single decree Paxos, or Paxos leader election, and also the lineage of protocols that derive from it, as well as sometimes specifically MultiPaxos. But it’s OK, words can have multiple meanings. For what it’s worth even EPaxos is long in the tooth now. There have been several advancements in the intervening years, the latest being Accord[1], a protocol the Cassandra community has developed for cross shard distributed transactions. [1] https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/download/attachments/188744725/Accord.pdf https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/download/attachments/188... (Full disclosure: I’m one of the authors)

by 0des 5y ago

wahern 5y ago

As always[1], this paper compares MultiPaxos, not Paxos. Paxos is more like the conceptual underpinning to a family of protocols, one leaf of which arguably includes Raft itself. A summary and evolutionary timeline (up to 2018) of the various algorithms in the Paxos lineage is https://vadosware.io/post/paxosmon-gotta-concensus-them-all/ https://vadosware.io/post/paxosmon-gotta-concensus-them-all/ Raft looks good next to MultiPaxos, but MultiPaxos is hardly the state of the art in the mainline Paxos lineage. MultiPaxos was published in 2001, over a decade before Raft. EPaxos is more of a contemporary to Raft, and arguably more in the spirit of Paxos as originally conceived--truly distributed, leaderless consensus. [1] Practically every paper discussing Raft, including the original Raft paper(s), aliases Paxos to MultiPaxos.

hardwaresofton 5y ago
Did I miss something newer from 2018+? I did an update recently thanks to some suggestions from HN: https://vadosware.io/post/paxosmon-2-the-journey-continues/ https://vadosware.io/post/paxosmon-2-the-journey-continues/ I haven't read any papers recently but if you know of some that are worth giving a read, please let me know!
_benedict 5y ago
Lamport intended MultiPaxos to be called Paxos, and it was described in his original Part Time Parliament paper which was written in 89 and published in 98. These days I think Paxos refers both to what Lamport thought of as single decree Paxos, or Paxos leader election, and also the lineage of protocols that derive from it, as well as sometimes specifically MultiPaxos. But it’s OK, words can have multiple meanings. For what it’s worth even EPaxos is long in the tooth now. There have been several advancements in the intervening years, the latest being Accord[1], a protocol the Cassandra community has developed for cross shard distributed transactions. [1] https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/download/attachments/188744725/Accord.pdf https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/download/attachments/188... (Full disclosure: I’m one of the authors)