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Bully algorithm
View on WikipediaIn distributed computing, the bully algorithm is a method for dynamically electing a coordinator or leader from a group of distributed computer processes. The process with the highest process ID number from amongst the non-failed processes is selected as the coordinator.
Assumptions
[edit]The algorithm assumes that:[1]
- the system is synchronous.
- processes may fail at any time, including during execution of the algorithm.
- a process fails by stopping and returns from failure by restarting.
- there is a failure detector which detects failed processes.
- message delivery between processes is reliable.
- each process knows its own process id and address, and that of every other process.
Algorithm
[edit]The algorithm uses the following message types:
- Election Message: Sent to announce election.
- Answer (Alive) Message: Responds to the Election message.
- Coordinator (Victory) Message: Sent by winner of the election to announce victory.
When a process P recovers from failure, or the failure detector indicates that the current coordinator has failed, P performs the following actions:
- If P has the highest process ID, it sends a Victory message to all other processes and becomes the new Coordinator. Otherwise, P broadcasts an Election message to all other processes with higher process IDs than itself.
- If P receives no Answer after sending an Election message, then it broadcasts a Victory message to all other processes and becomes the Coordinator.
- If P receives an Answer from a process with a higher ID, it sends no further messages for this election and waits for a Victory message. (If there is no Victory message after a period of time, it restarts the process at the beginning.)
- If P receives an Election message from another process with a lower ID it sends an Answer message back and if it has not already started an election, it starts the election process at the beginning, by sending an Election message to higher-numbered processes.
- If P receives a Coordinator message, it treats the sender as the coordinator.
Analysis
[edit]Safety
[edit]The safety property expected of leader election protocols is that every non-faulty process either elects a process Q, or elects none at all. Note that all processes that elect a leader must decide on the same process Q as the leader. The Bully algorithm satisfies this property (under the system model specified), and at no point in time is it possible for two processes in the group to have a conflicting view of who the leader is, except during an election. This is true because if it weren't, there are two processes X and Y such that both sent the Coordinator (victory) message to the group. This means X and Y must also have sent each other victory messages. But this cannot happen, since before sending the victory message, Election messages would have been exchanged between the two, and the process with a lower process ID among the two would never send out victory messages. We have a contradiction, and hence our initial assumption that there are two leaders in the system at any given time is false, and that shows that the bully algorithm is safe.
Liveness
[edit]Liveness is also guaranteed in the synchronous, crash-recovery model. Consider the would-be leader failing after sending an Answer (Alive) message but before sending a Coordinator (victory) message. If it does not recover before the set timeout on lower ID processes, one of them will become leader eventually (even if some of the other processes crash). If the failed process recovers in time, it simply sends a Coordinator (victory) message to all of the group.
Network bandwidth utilization
[edit]Assuming that the bully algorithm messages are of a fixed (known, invariant) sizes, the most number of messages are exchanged in the group when the process with the lowest ID initiates an election. This process sends (N−1) Election messages, the next higher ID sends (N−2) messages, and so on, resulting in election messages. There are also the Alive messages, and co-ordinator messages, thus making the overall number messages exchanged in the worst case be .
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Coulouris, George; Dollimore, Jean; Kindberg, Tim (2000). Distributed Systems: Concepts and Design (3rd ed.). Addison Wesley. ISBN 978-0201619188.
- Witchel, Emmett (2005). "Distributed Coordination". Retrieved May 4, 2005.
- Hector Garcia-Molina, Elections in a Distributed Computing System, IEEE Transactions on Computers, Vol. C-31, No. 1, January (1982) 48–59
- L. Lamport, R. Shostak, and M. Pease, "The Byzantine Generals Problem" ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems, Vol. 4, No. 3, July 1982.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Bully algorithm at Wikimedia Commons
Bully algorithm
View on GrokipediaOverview
Description and Purpose
The Bully algorithm is a leader election protocol designed for distributed computing systems, where a group of processes must select a unique coordinator from among the non-failed participants; the process with the highest unique identifier (ID) assumes this role to maintain system coordination.[1] This approach ensures that only one coordinator exists at any time, preventing conflicts in decision-making across the network.[1] At its core, the algorithm operates on the principle that processes with higher IDs assert dominance over those with lower IDs, effectively "bullying" them out of the election by preempting their candidacy.[1] This priority-based mechanism guarantees that the highest-ID non-failed process emerges victorious without requiring complex voting or consensus rounds among equals.[1] The protocol uses distinct message types, such as election announcements and victory declarations, to propagate these assertions efficiently.[1] The purpose of the Bully algorithm is to provide a robust method for electing a coordinator in environments prone to crash failures, enabling critical operations like resource allocation, data replication, or global synchronization to proceed without interruption.[1] By reestablishing coordination promptly after disruptions, it supports the reliability of distributed applications where processes communicate over unreliable links.[1] Elections are initiated when a process detects the current coordinator's failure, often via a timeout mechanism, or when a recovering process joins the system and finds no active leader.[1]Historical Background
The Bully algorithm was invented by Hector Garcia-Molina in 1982 as a solution to the leader election problem in distributed systems. It was first detailed in his seminal paper titled "Elections in a Distributed Computing System," published in the IEEE Transactions on Computers.[2] In this work, Garcia-Molina addressed the need for reorganizing active nodes following failures, proposing the algorithm as a reliable method to select a coordinator capable of initiating recovery protocols.[2] The algorithm emerged within the broader context of early research on fault-tolerant coordination in distributed computing, particularly in environments prone to crash failures. Garcia-Molina developed it under assumptions of synchronous communication, where nodes operate with unique identifiers and failures manifest as complete halts without partial or Byzantine behaviors.[2] This focus aligned with contemporary efforts to ensure system reliability in partitioned or degraded networks, emphasizing protocols that could maintain coordination without requiring global knowledge of the system state.[2] Over the decades, the Bully algorithm has established itself as a classic benchmark for leader election protocols, garnering over 1,000 citations and serving as a foundational reference in distributed systems literature.[3] Its straightforward yet robust approach to handling crash failures in synchronous settings has inspired extensive subsequent research, including optimizations for efficiency, adaptations to asynchronous models, and comparisons with alternative election strategies.[4]System Model
Assumptions
The Bully algorithm operates under a synchronous distributed system model, where message delays and process execution times are bounded, ensuring that processes can reliably coordinate within predictable time frames. This synchrony assumption allows the algorithm to use timeouts effectively for failure detection without the complications of asynchronous communication, where progress cannot be guaranteed without additional mechanisms.[5] Communication in the system is assumed to be reliable, with messages delivered without loss, duplication, or reordering, typically over FIFO channels that preserve the order of messages sent between any pair of processes. This reliability is crucial for the election messages to propagate correctly, preventing scenarios where a higher-priority process might be overlooked due to message mishandling.[5][6] The algorithm models process failures as crash-stop, meaning a failed process halts execution abruptly and does not recover or exhibit Byzantine behavior during the election phase; any recovery is addressed separately outside the election procedure. This failure model limits the scope to non-malicious crashes, simplifying the election logic while assuming that the system can tolerate such stops without needing to handle restarts mid-election.[5][6] Each process is assigned a unique integer identifier (ID) from a total ordering known to all processes in the system, with higher IDs conferring higher priority in the election, enabling "bullying" by superior processes to assert leadership. These IDs serve as the basis for determining the eventual coordinator, as the process with the maximum ID will always prevail under normal operation.[5] Failure detection relies on timeouts, where processes monitor the coordinator's heartbeat or responses; upon expiration, a process initiates an election, assuming the coordinator has crashed. This mechanism integrates with the synchronous model to ensure timely detection without requiring a separate oracle, though it depends on the bounded delays for accuracy.[5][6]Process Requirements
In the Bully algorithm, each process must possess a unique identifier, typically assigned at system initialization, which serves as its priority for leader election purposes. Additionally, every process is required to maintain knowledge of all other process identifiers and their corresponding network addresses to enable direct communication during elections. This awareness allows a process to target messages specifically to higher-priority processes without relying on broadcast mechanisms. Processes in the Bully algorithm are equipped with the capability to send messages to any other process and receive responses reliably, assuming an underlying communication system that delivers messages in order without errors. Locally, each process maintains state information, including awareness of the current coordinator's identity and its own identifier, stored in persistent memory to survive potential crashes. Upon recovery from a failure or restart, a process checks the status of the current coordinator; if no valid coordinator is detected, it initiates an election to select a new leader. To handle potential failures, processes implement timeout mechanisms, where a fixed timeout period—based on the synchronous timing assumptions of the system—triggers detection of non-responsive nodes or the need to restart election procedures if responses are not received.Algorithm Mechanics
Message Types
The Bully algorithm employs three primary message types to facilitate the leader election process in a distributed system: election messages, answer messages, and coordinator messages. These messages enable processes to communicate their intentions and statuses without requiring complex acknowledgments beyond the specified responses. An election message is initiated by a process Pi upon detecting the coordinator's failure or during system startup; it is sent directly to all processes with higher identifiers (Pj where j > i) to announce Pi's candidacy and solicit responses from potential higher-priority candidates. This message serves to propagate the election request upward in the priority hierarchy, allowing higher-ID processes to either concede or assert their own candidacy. The format of an election message typically includes the sender's identifier (Pi) and the message type, ensuring recipients can identify the initiator and context. An answer message (also referred to as an "OK" or "alive" response in some implementations) is sent by a higher-ID process Pj in reply to an election message received from a lower-ID process Pi. It indicates that Pj is operational and intends to participate in the election by potentially becoming the coordinator itself, prompting Pi to withdraw its candidacy. This response prevents lower-priority processes from proceeding unnecessarily and helps propagate the election to even higher priorities if needed. Like the election message, it contains the sender's identifier and type, with no further acknowledgments required from the recipient. A coordinator message is broadcast by the process with the highest identifier (the elected leader) to all other processes in the system once it confirms no higher-priority processes are alive. This message announces the sender as the new coordinator, allowing all processes to update their local coordinator reference and resume normal operations. The format includes the sender's identifier as the coordinator and the message type; it is sent without expecting individual acknowledgments, relying on the system's message delivery guarantees.Election Procedure
The election procedure in the Bully algorithm begins when a process detects the failure of the current coordinator, typically through a timeout on expected messages, or upon the process's own recovery from a crash. In such cases, the detecting process , with identifier , initiates the election only if its own identifier exceeds that of the failed coordinator; otherwise, it simply awaits a new coordinator announcement. To start, sends an Election message to all processes with higher identifiers (i.e., where ). This step ensures that only processes with potentially higher priority participate further, promoting the highest-identifier process as the eventual leader. Upon sending the Election messages, waits for Answer messages from any higher-identifier processes. If no Answer is received within a predefined timeout period, assumes it has the highest active identifier and broadcasts a Coordinator message to all processes, declaring itself the new coordinator and concluding its election. Conversely, if receives an Answer from a higher , it halts its own election efforts and passively waits for a Coordinator message from a higher-priority process, thereby deferring to the ongoing propagation. The Answer message serves solely to acknowledge receipt and signal the responder's activity, without carrying additional election details. When a process receives an Election message from a lower-identifier process (where ), it immediately replies with an Answer to and, if not already engaged in an election, initiates its own by sending Election messages to all processes with identifiers higher than . This propagation continues recursively among higher-identifier processes until reaching the highest active one, ensuring the election "bullies" lower processes out of contention by chaining responses upward. Multiple concurrent elections may overlap if several processes detect the failure simultaneously, but the protocol's design resolves this through the consistent prioritization of higher identifiers. The procedure terminates when the process with the highest active identifier, say , receives no Answer messages after sending its Election queries, prompting it to send a Coordinator message to all other processes. Upon receiving this Coordinator message, all lower processes update their coordinator reference to and resume normal operation, ensuring system-wide agreement on the new leader. If a Coordinator message from a lower identifier arrives before one from a higher, it is ignored in favor of the eventual higher-priority announcement. This termination mechanism guarantees convergence to a single coordinator. In the recovery case, a process that restarts after a crash sends an Election message to all higher-identifier processes to check for an ongoing or existing election. If receives no Answer, it proceeds as the initiator, potentially becoming the new coordinator if its identifier is now the highest active one, and broadcasts a Coordinator message. If an Answer is received, joins the wait for the propagating Coordinator message from a higher process, integrating seamlessly without disrupting the current election. This handles dynamic joins while maintaining the highest-identifier rule.Pseudocode Representation
The Bully algorithm's core logic for a single process p with unique identifier id_p is typically implemented through three primary functions: handling recovery from failure, initiating and managing an election, and processing incoming messages. These functions assume a synchronous network model with timeouts for message delivery, as detailed in the system's assumptions. The pseudocode below outlines the algorithm using message types Election, Answer, and Coordinator, where processes are ordered by their IDs (higher ID has higher priority).Recovery Handling
When a process p recovers from a crash or detects the current coordinator's failure, it initiates an election to reestablish leadership.procedure HandleRecovery(p)
HoldElection(p)
procedure HandleRecovery(p)
HoldElection(p)
Election Initiation
TheHoldElection function is invoked by p to start the election. It sends Election messages to all processes with higher IDs and awaits responses. If no higher-priority process responds within a timeout period T, p assumes it has the highest active ID and declares itself coordinator, notifying all processes.
procedure HoldElection(p)
has_response = false
for each process q where id_q > id_p do
send Election(id_p) to q
wait for timeout T
during wait, if receive any Answer(id_q) from some q with id_q > id_p then
has_response = true
if not has_response then
// No higher ID responded; p becomes coordinator
coordinator = id_p
broadcast Coordinator(id_p) to all processes
procedure HoldElection(p)
has_response = false
for each process q where id_q > id_p do
send Election(id_p) to q
wait for timeout T
during wait, if receive any Answer(id_q) from some q with id_q > id_p then
has_response = true
if not has_response then
// No higher ID responded; p becomes coordinator
coordinator = id_p
broadcast Coordinator(id_p) to all processes
Message Reception
TheReceiveMessage function processes incoming messages, updating local state based on the type and sender's ID. This handles cases where p receives an Election from a lower ID (responding if eligible and potentially initiating its own election), an Answer (acknowledging a higher process), or a Coordinator announcement (updating the known leader).
procedure ReceiveMessage(p, msg_type, sender_id)
if msg_type == Election and sender_id < id_p then
// Respond to lower ID process
send Answer(id_p) to sender_id
// Initiate own election since p has higher priority
HoldElection(p)
else if msg_type == Answer and sender_id > id_p then
// Acknowledge higher priority; update local max if needed
// (Typically handled in election wait loop)
do nothing // Response already processed in HoldElection
else if msg_type == Coordinator then
// Update local coordinator state
coordinator = sender_id
// Halt any ongoing election if applicable
if p is in election state then
exit election state
procedure ReceiveMessage(p, msg_type, sender_id)
if msg_type == Election and sender_id < id_p then
// Respond to lower ID process
send Answer(id_p) to sender_id
// Initiate own election since p has higher priority
HoldElection(p)
else if msg_type == Answer and sender_id > id_p then
// Acknowledge higher priority; update local max if needed
// (Typically handled in election wait loop)
do nothing // Response already processed in HoldElection
else if msg_type == Coordinator then
// Update local coordinator state
coordinator = sender_id
// Halt any ongoing election if applicable
if p is in election state then
exit election state
HoldElection or multiple concurrent elections, are resolved by the priority rule, where higher IDs override lower ones.
