Notes
Zookeeper & Delos
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Consensus
- why is this such an important problem in distributed OS?
Notice that consensus isn't a concern in single-system operating systems
- we get "consensus" simply by having one copy of data
But in a distributed system we have copies of data & distributed state
- so if we want all of the system to be in the "same" state, we need consensus
- consensus has to be constructed, it isn't the natural state of the system
Consensus in natural systems can take interesting forms, not really like how we currently do things in computers
- consider flocking behavior
Artificial systems typically need greater precision in their consensus, and so they need different solutions than natural systems
In the papers, don't focus on the algorithms
- instead focus on the APIs, abstractions
- how do they compare?
- compare "file-like" abstractions to "log-like" abstractions
What is the real difference between a log and a file?
Groups go until 12:20