Asymmetric Linearizable Local Reads

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Abstract

Many linearizable local read algorithms have been proposed to minimize the read latency of strongly consistent distributed databases deployed in geo-distributed networks. These algorithms do so by enabling reads to be performed immediately against any process’ copy of the database in the best case. However, as our analysis shows, worst-case read latency at every process with all existing algorithms is at least the network’s relative diameter in terms of the maximum message delay minus a known lower bound on message delay between any two processes. We then show that by leveraging the asymmetric message delays of geo-distributed networks, worstcase read latency can be below the network’s relative diameter at processes close to the leader or the network’s center by presenting two new linearizable local read algorithms. Our experimental evaluation shows that these new algorithms reduce worst-case read latency by up to 50x compared to existing ones.