Performance analysis of a regeneration-based dynamic voting algorithm

RVC2 is a consistency control algorithm for replicated data objects in a distributed computing system. It is a dynamic voting algorithm which utilizes selective regeneration and recovery mechanisms for failed copies. Virtual copies which record information about the current state of a data object, but do not contain actual data, are used to reduce network and storage overhead. Experimental results for availability, storage cost, and message cost, obtained through simulation, are discussed. Our results show that the replacement of real copies with virtual copies has no significant impact on the availability of a data object. Neither does varying the generation threshold. We also show that high availability can be maintained without regeneration. We conclude that regeneration makes no significant contribution to the high availability of RVC2.