Applications of Failure Detection

不可靠的故障检测作为容错分布式计算的一种基本范式已经得到认可。该范式最初是为了避免在异步系统中出现崩溃故障时无法达成共识而引入的。提出的研究旨在以多种方式扩展故障检测的适用性：(1)它将寻求能够容忍进程崩溃和链路故障的解决方案，特别是能够适应网络分区的解决方案。(2)它将考虑除共识之外的实际问题，例如原子承诺和各种形式的群体成员。(3)研究将故障检测扩展到其他模型，如定时异步模型，以解决规范涉及实时的问题。(4)探索使用随机化技术来增强故障检测能力。本研究旨在扩大故障检测的范围，并将其牢固地建立为容错分布式系统的核心组件。

Unreliable failure detection has been gaining acceptance as a fundamental paradigm for fault-tolerant distributed computing. This paradigm was originally introduced to circumvent the impossibility of achieving consensus in asynchronous systems with crash failures. The proposed research aims to extend the applicability of failure detection in multiple ways: (1) It will seek solutions that tolerate both process crashes and link failures, and in particular, solutions that are resilient to network partitioning. (2) It will consider practical problems besides consensus, e.g., atomic commitment and various forms of group membership. (3) It will investigate the extension of failure detection to other models, such as the timed asynchronous model, in order to solve problems whose specifications involve real-time. (4) It will explore the use of randomization techniques to enhance the power of failure detection. This research intends to widen the scope of failure detection and to firmly establish it as a core component of fault-tolerant distributed systems.