Summary: Technical Report CNDS­2002­1 Johns Hopkins University, http://www.cnds.jhu.edu/publications
Practical Wide­Area Database Replication 1
Yair Amir * , Claudiu Danilov * , Michal Miskin­Amir + , Jonathan Stanton * , Ciprian Tutu *
* Johns Hopkins University + Spread Concepts LLC
Department of Computer Science 5305 Acacia Ave
Baltimore MD 21218 Bethesda MD 20814
{yairamir, claudiu, jonathan, ciprian}@cnds.jhu.edu michal@spreadconcepts.com
Abstract
This paper explores the architecture, implementation and performance of a wide and
local area database replication system. The architecture provides peer replication,
supporting diverse application semantics, based on a group communication paradigm.
Network partitions and merges, computer crashes and recoveries, and message omissions
are all handled. Using a generic replication engine and the Spread group communication
toolkit, we provide replication services for the PostgreSQL database system. We define
three different environments to be used as test­beds: a local area cluster, a wide area
network that spans the U.S.A, and an emulated wide area test bed. We conduct an
extensive set of experiments on these environments, varying the number of replicas and
clients, the mix of updates and queries, and the network latency. Our results show that
sophisticated algorithms and careful distributed systems design can make symmetric,
synchronous, peer database replication a reality for both local and wide area networks.

Source: Amir, Yair - Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University

Collections: Computer Technologies and Information Sciences