Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Lower bounds for asynchronous consensus

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Distributed Computing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Impossibility results and best-case lower bounds are proved for the number of message delays and the number of processes required to reach agreement in an asynchronous consensus algorithm that tolerates non-Byzantine failures. General algorithms exist that achieve these lower bounds in the normal case, when the response time of non-faulty processes and the transmission delay of messages they send to one another are bounded. Our theorems allow algorithms to do better in certain exceptional cases, and such algorithms are presented. Two of these exceptional algorithms may be of practical interest.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Brasileiro, F., Greve, F., Mostefaoui, A., Raynal, M.: Consensus in one communication step. In: Malyshkin, V. (ed.). Parallel Computing Technologies (6th International Conference, PaCT 2001), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 2127, pp. 42–50. Springer-Verlag (2001)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. Charron-Bost, B., Schiper, A.: Uniform consensus is harder than consensus (extended abstract). Technical Report DSC/2000/028, école Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland (2000). http://lsewww.epfl.ch/Publications/ById/263.html

  3. De Prisco, R., Lampson, B., Lynch, N.: Revisiting the paxos algorithm. Theor. Comput. Sci. 243:35–91 (2000)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Dwork, C., Lynch, N., Stockmeyer, L.: Consensus in the presence of partial synchrony. J. ACM 35(2), 288–323 (1988)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  5. Fischer, M.J., Lynch, N., Paterson, M.S.: Impossibility of distributed consensus with one faulty process. J. ACM 32(2), 374–382 (1985)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  6. Lamport, L.: Time, clocks, and the ordering of events in a distributed system. Commun. ACM 21(7), 558–565 (1978)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  7. Lamport, L.: How to write a proof. American Mathematical Monthly 102(7):600–608 (1995)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  8. Lamport, L.: The part-time parliament. ACM Trans. Comput. Syst. 16(2), 133–169 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Lamport, L.: Paxos made simple. ACM SIGACT News (Distributed Computing Column) 32(4), 18–25 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Lamport, L.: Lower bounds for asynchronous consensus. In: Schiper, A., Shvartsman, A.A., Weatherspoon, H., Zhao, B.Y. (eds.). Future Directions in Distributed Computing, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 2584, pp. 22–23. Springer (2003)

  11. Lamport, L.: Specifying Systems. Addison-Wesley, Boston (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Lamport, L.: Fast paxos. Tech. Rep. MSR-TR-2005-112, Microsoft Research (2005)

  13. Pedone, F., Schiper, A.: Handling message semantics with generic broadcast. Distributed Computing 15(2), 97–107 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Wensley, J., et al.: SIFT: Design and analysis of a fault-tolerant computer for aircraft control. Proceedings of the IEEE 66(10), 1240–1254 (1978)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microsoft Research Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA, 98052, USA

    Leslie Lamport

Authors
  1. Leslie Lamport
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lamport, L. Lower bounds for asynchronous consensus. Distrib. Comput. 19, 104–125 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00446-006-0155-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00446-006-0155-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation