Raft Consensus

Table of Contents

  • Was devised with understandability in mind compared to the pre-existing Paxos Consensus protocol.
  • is considered a CP system

1. CAP analysis

  • Partition Tolerance (P): Raft is designed to handle network partitions. It can continue operating even if some servers are disconnected.
  • Consistency (C): Raft prioritizes strong consistency. It ensures all servers agree on the same data, even during network problems.
  • Availability (A): Raft aims for high availability but may sacrifice it temporarily during network issues to maintain consistency. For example, if the leader is unreachable, the system might pause until a new leader is elected.

Overall: Raft is considered a CP system. It emphasizes data accuracy (consistency) over being always available. This makes it a good choice for applications where data consistency is critical, even if it means occasional short periods of unavailability.

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