Replication: Understanding the Advantage of Atomic Broadcast over Quorum Systems

Richard Ekwall (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland)

Andre Schiper (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland)

Abstract: Quorum systems (introduced in the late seventies) and atomic broadcast (introduced later) are two techniques to manage replicated data. Despite of the fact that these two techniques are now well known, the advantage of atomic broadcast over quorum systems is not clearly understood. The paper explains exactly in what cases atomic broadcast is a better technique than quorum systems to handle replication.

Keywords: atomic broadcast, isolation, quorum systems, replication

Categories: C.2.4, D.4.5