Synchronous Consensus During Incomplete Synchrony

TL;DR

This paper introduces a leaderless, Byzantine consensus algorithm for networks with partial synchrony and link failures, ensuring safety and bounded liveness through asymmetric authentication and redundant message delivery.

Contribution

It extends reliable delivery concepts to asynchronous links, enabling safe, leaderless consensus with bounded termination in partially synchronous networks.

Findings

Consensus is achievable with asymmetric authentication over unreliable links.

Leaderless algorithms can ensure safety and bounded liveness in partial synchrony.

The impossibility of combined safety and liveness in partial synchrony does not hold in the studied network model.

Abstract

We present an algorithm for synchronous deterministic Byzantine consensus, tolerant to links failures and links asynchrony. It cares for a class of networks with specific needs, where both safety and liveness are essential, and timely irrevocable consensus has priority over highest throughput. The algorithm operates with redundant delivery of messages via indirect paths of up to 3 hops, aims all correct processes to obtain a coherent view of the system state within a bounded time, and establishes consensus with no need of leader. Consensus involves exchange of 2*n*n*n asymmetrically authenticated messages and tolerates up to < n/2 faulty processes. We show that in a consensus system with known members: 1) The existing concepts for delivery over a fraction of links and gossip-based reliable multicast can be extended to also circumvent asynchronous links and thereby convert the reliable delivery into a reliable bounded delivery. 2) A system of synchronous processes with bounded delivery does not need a leader - all correct processes from connected majority derive and propose the same consensus value from atomically consistent individual views on system state. 3) The required for bounded delivery asymmetric authentication of messages is sufficient for safety of the consensus algorithm. Key finding: the impossibility of safety and liveness of consensus in partial synchrony is not valid in the entire space between synchrony and asynchrony. A system of synchronized synchronous processes, which communicate with asymmetrically authenticated messages over a medium susceptible to asynchrony and faults, can operate with: 1) defined tolerance to number of asynchronous and/or faulty links per number of stop-failed and/or Byzantine processes; 2) leaderless algorithm with bounded termination; and 3) conceptually ensured simultaneous safety and bounded liveness.