Abstract

This paper shows how Koo and Toueg's distributed checkpointing algorithm can be modified so as to substantially reduce the average message volume. It attempts to avoid O(n 2 ) messages by using dependency knowledge to reduce the number of checkpoint request messages. Lemmas on consistency and termination are also included. Key Words: Checkpointing, distributed systems, fault-tolerance, performance. 1 Introduction The possibility of tackling very large, computationally intensive problems by coupling large communities of distributed processors through a high-speed network is fast becoming a reality [7]. The computing sites may consist of computational resources from several vendors, and communication between sites may require message transmission over long distances (thousands of miles) through several intermediate hops. Clearly, computing in this environment is much more precarious and we can expect higher resource failure rates than in a standard multiprocessor. Thus, a fundamental...

Citations