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SD12

The document discusses different election algorithms for distributed systems. It describes the bully algorithm where processes with higher IDs initiate elections and outlines an example. It also describes a ring-based algorithm where processes form an ordered ring and pass election messages around the ring to elect a coordinator.

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24 views6 pages

SD12

The document discusses different election algorithms for distributed systems. It describes the bully algorithm where processes with higher IDs initiate elections and outlines an example. It also describes a ring-based algorithm where processes form an ordered ring and pass election messages around the ring to elect a coordinator.

Uploaded by

iloveclouds1607
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Distributed Systems – Theory

12. Election algorithms

1
Why? And assumptions
 Many distributed algorithms require one process to act as coordinator,
initiator, sequencer, or otherwise perform some special role.
 Example: the coordinator in the centralized mutual exclusion algorithm.
 Problem: look at algorithms for electing a coordinator.
 The algorithms differ in the way they do the location.
 Remark: If all processes are exactly the same, with no distinguishing
characteristics, there is no way to select one of them to be special.
 Assumption 1: each process has a unique number,
 for example its network address (for simplicity, we will assume one process per
machine).
 In general, election algorithms attempt to locate the process with the highest
process number and designate it as coordinator.
 Assumption 2: every process knows the process number of every other
process.
 Assumption 3: what the processes do not know is which ones are currently
up and which ones are currently down.
 Goal of an election algorithm: ensure that when an election starts, it
concludes with all processes agreeing on who the new coordinator is to be.

2
Bully Algorithm (Garcia-Molina)
 When a process notices that the coordinator is no longer responding to
requests, it initiates an election.
 A process, P, holds an election as follows:
1. P sends an ELECTION message to all processes with higher numbers
2. If no one responds, P wins the election and becomes coordinator
3. If one of the higher-ups answers, it takes over. P's job is done
 If a process can get an ELECTION message from one of its lower-numbered
colleagues.
 message arrives => the receiver sends an OK message back to the sender to
indicate that he is alive and will take over.
 The receiver then holds an election, unless it is already holding one.
 Eventually, all processes give up but one, and that one is the new
coordinator.
 It announces its victory by sending all processes a message telling them that
starting immediately it is the new coordinator.
 If a process that was previously down comes back up, it holds an election.
 If it happens to be the highest-numbered process currently running, it will win the
election and take over the coordinator's job.
 Thus the biggest guy in town always wins, hence the name "bully algorithm."

3
Bully Algorithm - example
 The group consists of 8 processes.
 Previously process 7 was the coordinator,
but it has just crashed.
 Process 4 is the first one to notice this, so it
sends ELECTION messages to all the
processes higher than it, namely Processes
5 and 6 both respond with OK.
 Upon getting the first of these responses, 4
knows that its job is over.
 Both 5 and 6 hold elections, each one only
sending messages to those processes
higher than itself.
 Process 6 tells 5 that it will take over.
 6 knows that 7 is dead and that it is the
winner.
 6 announces this by sending a
COORDINATOR message to all running
processes.
 When 4 gets this message, it can now
continue with the operation it was trying to
do when it discovered that 7 was dead, but
using 6 as the coordinator this time.
 If process 7 is ever restarted, it will just
send all the others a COORDINATOR
message and bully them into submission.

4
A Ring Algorithm

 Based on the use of a ring.


 Assume: the processes are physically or logically ordered, so that each process
knows who its successor is.
 When any process notices that the coordinator is not functioning, it builds an
ELECTION message containing its own process number and sends the message
to its successor.
 If the successor is down, the sender skips over the successor and goes to the next
member along the ring, or the one after that, until a running process is located.
 At each step, the sender adds its own process number to the list in the message.
 Eventually, the message gets back to the process that started it all.
 That process recognizes this event when it receives an incoming message
containing its own process number.
 At that point, the message type is changed to COORDINATOR and circulated once
again, this time to inform everyone else who the coordinator is (the list member with
the highest number) and who the members of the new ring are.
 When this message has circulated once, everyone goes back to work.

5
Ring algorithm - example
 two processes, 2 and 5, discover
simultaneously that the previous
coordinator, process 7, has crashed.
 Each of these builds an ELECTION
message and starts circulating it.
 Eventually, both messages will go all
the way around, and both 2 and 5 will
convert them into COORDINATOR
messages, with exactly the same
members and in the same order.
 When both have gone around again,
both will be removed.
 It does no harm to have extra
messages circulating – at most it
wastes a little bandwidth.

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