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Lecture Notes: Agreement Protocols

The document discusses agreement protocols for distributed systems. It covers the Byzantine Generals Problem where generals need to agree on a plan of action despite some generals being traitors. The Lamport-Shostak-Pease Algorithm provides a solution using oral messages when the number of traitors is less than one-third of the total generals. The document also covers consensus problems, interactive consistency problems, and how authenticated messages allow a solution for three generals with one possible traitor.

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41 views6 pages

Lecture Notes: Agreement Protocols

The document discusses agreement protocols for distributed systems. It covers the Byzantine Generals Problem where generals need to agree on a plan of action despite some generals being traitors. The Lamport-Shostak-Pease Algorithm provides a solution using oral messages when the number of traitors is less than one-third of the total generals. The document also covers consensus problems, interactive consistency problems, and how authenticated messages allow a solution for three generals with one possible traitor.

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Syllabus  

Blank Homework  
Notes   Labs   Scores   Blank

Lecture Notes
Dr. Tong Lai Yu, March 2010

0. Review and Overview 7. Distributed OS Theories


1. B-Trees 8. Distributed Mutual Exclusions
2. An Introduction to Distributed Systems 9. Agreement Protocols
3. Deadlocks 10. Distributed Scheduling
    
4. Distributed Systems Architecture 11. Distributed Resource Management
5. Processes 12. Recovery and Fault Tolerance
6. Communication 13. Security and Protection
 

Life well spent is long.

Leonardo da Vinci

Agreement Protocols
1. Failure Masking by Redundancy

Triple Modular Redundancy

Protection against process failures can be achieved by replicating

processes into groups.

Design issues
a) Communication in a flat group. b) Communication in a simple hierarchical group.

2. The Byzantine Generals Problem

reliable computer systems must be able to cope with the failure of


one or more of its components

failed component --> conflicting information

several divisions of an army ( e.g. a coalition of forces )


are camped outside an enemy city

Generals can communicate with one another by oral messengers only

decide upon a plan of action

some generals may be traitors, trying to prevent loyal


generals from reaching agreement

All loyal generals decide upon the same plan of action


A small number of traitors cannot cause the loyal generals
to adopt a bad plan
Let
v(i) = information communicated by General i,    i = 1, 2, ..., n

1. all loyal Generals agree on same value ( order )


2. If Commander is loyal, then every loyal General obeys
the order he sends

Impossibility Results

Consider n = 3, one is a traitor

For 2 to be satisfied, General 1 must "attack"

This cannot be distinguished from the previous case. Hence


whenever General 1 receives an "attack" order
from the commander,
he must attack.

In a similar argument, General 2 must "retreat".

This violates 1.

Hence, no solution exists for 3 generals that works in the presence of a single traitor.

Lamport-Shostak-Pease Algorithm

Solution exists only if

# of traitors < 1/3 of total # of generals

i.e. 3m + 1 generals can cope with at most m traitors


Also known as Oral Messenge Algorithm OM(m)    m ≥ 0

n generals

commander sends messages to n - 1 generals

Solution for n ≥ 3m + 1    m traitors

majority ( 1, 1, 0 ) = 1

majority ( v1, ..., vi, .. vn-1 ) = vi    ( majority value )


  = RETREAT    if no such value exists
e.g. majority ( 1, 2, 3 ) = RETREAT

Algorithm OM(0)    ( i.e. m = 0 )

1. The commander sends his value to every general.


2. Each general uses the value from the commander, or
uses the value RETREAT if he receives no value.

Algorithm OM(m),   , m > 0

1. The commander sends his value to every general.


2. For each i,

let vi = value General i receives from commander or else RETREAT ( if receives no value )

General i acts as the commander in Algorithm OM(m-1) to


send value vi to other n - 2 generals.
3. For each i, and each j ≠ i,

let vj = value General i received from General j


in step 2 or else RETREAT

General i uses value of majority( v1, ..., vn-1 )

Example: Consier m = 1 and n = 4

Nonfaulty Commander

Figure

General 1: majority ( v, v, y ) = v

General 2: majority ( v, v, x ) = v

Commander, General 1, General 2 all agree on same value

General 1: majority ( x, y, z )
General 2: majority ( y, x, z )
General 3: majority ( z, x, y )

all agree on same value

Faulty Commander

Figure

Examples

faulty source processor


faulty processor

( n - 2 ) rounds,

message complexity: O( nm )

Dolev et al.'s algorithm

message complexity ~ polynomial time

but requires 2m + 3 rounds

6. Consensus Problem

every processor broadcasts its initial value to all other processors

1. All nonfaulty processors agree on the same single value


2. If the initial value of every nonfaulty processor is v, then
all nonfaulty processors must agree on value v
7. Interactive Consistency Problem

every processor broadcasts its initial value to all other processors


1. All nonfaulty processors agree on the same vector ( v1, ..., vn )
2. If the i-th processor is nonfaulty and its initial value
is vi, then i-th value to be agreed on by
all nonfaulty
processors must be vi

All are related

Byzantine agreement problem is a special case of interactive consistency problem,


in which the initial value of
only one processor ( source ) is interested

Conversely, if each of the n processors runs a copy of the


Byzantine agreement protocol, the interactive
consistency problem is solved.

Consensus can be solved using consistency.

They can be derived from Byzantine agreement problem.

8. Extension to Case n > 3m + 1

We have considered the case n = 3m + 1 and found the solution.

When n > 3m + 1, we designate 3m + 1 processors as active


processors and the rest passive processors

The active processors first make an agreement then send results to passive
processors

The passive processors can use majority rule to find the value

9. Signed Messages

authenticated

Generals: unforgeable signed messages

1. A loyal general's signature cannot be forged, and any alteration of the contents of his signed messages can be
detected
2. Anyone can verify the authenticity of a general's signature
now a three-general solution does exist

any m, need m + 2 generals

10. Applications

fault-tolerant clock synchronization ( use Interactive Consistency


algorithm to agree on some value )
atomic commit in DDBS ( to commit or abort ~ "attack" or "retreat" )

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