Understanding Paxos and other distributed consensus algorithms

TL;DR

This paper offers a clear explanation of Paxos, a complex distributed consensus algorithm, along with a novel proof of correctness, insights into its functionality, limitations, and a discussion of alternative approaches.

Contribution

It provides a simplified explanation of Paxos, a new proof of its correctness, and insights into its operational principles and limitations.

Findings

A novel proof of Paxos correctness

Clarification of why Paxos works and where it fails

Discussion of alternative consensus algorithms

Abstract

Paxos is a widely used and notoriously hard to understand method for solving one type of distributed consensus problem. This note provides a quick explanation of Paxos, a novel proof of correctness that is intended to provide insight into why the algorithm is as simple as the author has claimed, an explanation of why it does and why it doesn't work, and has a brief discussion of alternatives.