Proposed specification for multimaster replication

[Steven Legg <s.legg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All,

>LDUP-ers,
>
>attached are the preliminary minutes of the LDUP meeting in LA. If you have
>any comments, please send them to Chris or myself by April 17.


Telstra Corporation Ltd has been working on a proposal for multi-master
replication for LDAP which we would like to enter into the discussion.
Telstra is the leading telecommunications service provider in Australia and
is a supplier of high-end LDAP/X.500 directory servers. We have been
working in this area for many years.

Our proposal is relatively mature having been reviewed by a number of
independent parties, and has been subjected to extensive computer
simulation running a wide variety of replication tests across many
different server topoologies and modification patterns. However, an actual
implementation is not yet available.

Our design goals were

- efficient, simple implementation with low overheads
- no permanent inconsistency in the distributed database
- simple localized (two-party) replication agreements
- no restrictions on network topology
- continuing operation despite single or multiple server failure
- ability to operate in various modes: multi-master, master-slave, or
contingency mastering (master-slave with reconfigurable mastership).

We will be posting the proposal to this mailing list in the next few days.
We would like to participate in the discussion on requirements, the review
of candidate architectures, and any 'bake-off' that takes place. We will
find it difficult to attend meetings (being based in Australia), but will
participate to the fullest extent possible for us.


Steven Legg (s.legg@xxxxxxxxx) for
Directories Team
Telstra Research Laboratories