Optimal 0/1 vote assignment for replicated data

Data replication is used to improve the availability of data in a distributed system. Weighted voting is a frequently used mechanism for replica control. 0/1 vote assignment is considered for the purpose of reducing the computing time and the number of copies required. An O (N²) algorithm is presented to find an optimal 0/1 vote assignment and corresponding quorums. Experimental results show that the availability of the optimal 0/1 vote assignment is very close to that of the optimal integer vote assignment. However, the computing time required by the optimal integer vote assignment is at least O (N²). The algorithm is superior in terms of computing time and is preferable for larger systems. The number of copies required to be replicated is smaller than other comparable algorithms