A consensus protocol for wide area networks

We propose a consensus protocol for wide area networks (WAN) composed of interconnected local networks. We follow the approach initiated by Chandra and Toueg, based on unreliable failure detectors for asynchronous systems. We introduce a new detector class related to WAN properties similar to the detector of class S. The main new functionality of our detector is the ability to test the failure of a domain via a broadcast address. The algorithm described in this paper, allows each local network to apply its own decision strategy for the local proposed value. After proving the correctness of our algorithm, we will show that the number of exchanged messages is one order less than that of the original algorithm.ou