Compare Paxos and Raft consensus

Q: Compare Paxos and Raft consensus

This question evaluates understanding of distributed consensus algorithms, replicated state machines, leader election, log replication, and crash-fault tolerance (Paxos vs. Raft) within system design and distributed systems.

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Question

Compare Paxos vs. Raft for Crash-Fault Tolerant Consensus

Context

You are designing a replicated state machine that must remain correct under machine crashes, message loss/reordering, and network partitions (but not Byzantine faults). Consensus maintains a single, ordered log of commands that all nodes eventually apply to reach the same state.

Assume:

Majority (quorum) of nodes is available to make progress.
Disk persists critical metadata to survive crashes.
Network is asynchronous but eventually behaves well (partial synchrony) for liveness.

Task

Explain and compare the Paxos and Raft consensus algorithms. Cover:

Leader election
Log replication (steady-state and catch-up)
Safety and liveness guarantees
Handling partitions and failures
Membership changes (reconfiguration)
Operational complexity (implementation, debugging, and performance)
When you would choose one over the other in practice

Compare Paxos and Raft consensus

Compare Paxos vs. Raft for Crash-Fault Tolerant Consensus

Context

Task

Solution

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Compare Paxos and Raft consensus

Overview

Compare Paxos vs. Raft for Crash-Fault Tolerant Consensus

Context

Task

Solution

Comments (0)