Fault-Tolerant Distributed Systems Using DecentralizedConsensus Mechanisms
Keywords:
Fault Tolerance, Distributed Systems, Decentralized Consensus, Paxos, Raft, Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT), Performance, Scalability, Consensus EvaluationAbstract
Fault-tolerant distributed systems rely on decentralized consensus mechanisms to maintain consistent system state in the presence of failures or malicious behavior. This paper examines the principles, algorithms, challenges, and performance trade-offs of consensus protocols such as Paxos, Raft, and Byzantine Fault-Tolerant (BFT) mechanisms. A comparative analysis highlights the suitability of different techniques across diverse system environments and fault models. Future research directions in optimizing fault tolerance and decentralization for large-scale systems are identified. The study also emphasizes the role of network latency, quorum configuration, and replica placement in influencing system availability and convergence time. Experimental insights further illustrate how design choices affect scalability and resilience under failure scenarios. These findings contribute to improved architectural decision-making for dependable distributed computing infrastructures.
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