An efficient algorithm for mutual exclusion using queue migrationin computer networks

A nonsymmetric deadlock-free mutual exclusion algorithm for computer networks is presented. The algorithm requires O(m ) messages to synchronize m modes in a lightly loaded system, and the performance approaches a constant k dependent on m as the workload increases. In a medium to heavily loaded system, it outperforms other proposed algorithms and its performance is independent of network topology     

A fair distributed mutual exclusion algorithm

This paper presents a fair decentralized mutual exclusion algorithm for distributed systems in which processes communicate by asynchronous message passing. The algorithm requires between N-1 and 2(N-1) messages per critical section access, where N is the number of processes in the system. The exact message complexity can be expressed as a deterministic function of concurrency in the computation. The algorithm does not introduce any other overheads over Lamport's and Ricart-Agrawala's algorithms, which require 3(N-1) and 2(N-1) messages, respectively, per critical section access and are the only other decentralized algorithms that allow mutual exclusion access in the order of the timestamps of requests     

A simple local-spin group mutual exclusion algorithm

This paper presents a new solution to the group mutual exclusion problem recently posed by Joung. In this problem, processes repeatedly request access to various “sessions.” It is required that distinct processes are not in different sessions concurrently, that multiple processes may be in the same session concurrently, and that each process that tries to enter a session is eventually able to do so. This problem is a generalization of the mutual exclusion and readers-writers problems. Our algorithm and its correctness proof are substantially simpler than Joung's. This simplicity is achieved by building upon known solutions to the more specific mutual exclusion problem. Our algorithm also has various advantages over Joung's, depending on the choice of mutual exclusion algorithm used. These advantages include admitting a process to its session in constant time in the absence of contention, spinning locally in Cache Coherent (CC) and Nonuniform Memory Access (NUMA) systems, and improvements in the complexity measures proposed by Joung     

A fast,scalable mutual exclusion algorithm

Summary This paper is concerned with synchornization under read/write atomicity in shared memory multi-processors. We present a new algorithm forN-process mutual exclusion that requires only read and write operations and that hasO(logN) time complexity, where time is measured by counting remote memory references. The time complexity of this algorithm is better than that of all prior solutions to the mutual exclusion problem that are based upon atomic read and write instructions; in fact, the time complexity of most prior solutions is unbounded. Performance studies are presented that show that our mutual exclusion algorithm exhibits scalable performance under heavy contention. In fact, its performance rivals that of the fastest queue-based spin locks based on strong primitives such as compare-and-swap and fetch-and-add. We also present a modified version of our algorithm that generates onlyO(1) memory references in the absence of contention. Jae-Heon Yang received the B.S. and M. S. degrees in Computer Engineering from Seoul National University in 1985 and 1987, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1994. Since June 1994, he has been an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Mills College in Oakland, California. From 1987 to 1989, he was a junior researcher at the Korea Telecommunication Authority Research Center. His research interests include distributed computing and operating systems. James H. Anderson received the M. S. degree in Computer Science from Michigan State University in 1982, the M.S. degree in Computer Science from Purdue University in 1983, and the Ph.D. degree in Computer Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin in 1990. Since August 1993, he has been an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to joining the University of North Carolina, he was an Assistant Professor of Computer Science for three years at the University of Maryland at College Park Professor Anderson's main research interests are within the area of coneurrent and distributed computing. His current interests include wait-free algorithms, scalabde synchronization mechanisms for shared-memory systems, and object-sharing strategies for hard real-time applications.Preliminary version was presented at the Twelfth Annual ACM Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing Ithaca, New York, August 1993 [15]. Work supported, in part, by NSF Contracts CCR-9109497 and CCR-9216421 and by the Center for Excellence in Space Data and Information Sciences (CESDIS)     

A token based distributed algorithm for supporting mutual exclusion in opportunistic networks

Opportunistic networks are essentially distributed networks with transient connectivity among nodes. Nodes in opportunistic networks are resource constrained, mobile and opportunistically come in contact with each other. In such a distributed network, nodes may require exclusive access to a shared object or resource. Ensuring freedom from starvation is a challenging problem in opportunistic networks due to limited pairwise connectivity and node failures. In this paper, we review mutual exclusion algorithms proposed for generic mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) and discuss their applicability to opportunistic networks. Further, we propose a novel token based algorithm¹ and prove its correctness. Simulation results show that our algorithm is communication efficient as compared to other algorithms proposed for generic mobile ad hoc networks. We also propose a timeout based fault detection algorithm that exploits the intercontact time distributions.     

A delay-optimal quorum-based mutual exclusion algorithm fordistributed systems

The performance of a mutual exclusion algorithm is measured by the number of messages exchanged per critical section execution and the delay between successive executions of the critical section. There is a message complexity and synchronization delay trade-off in mutual exclusion algorithms. The Lamport algorithm (1978) and the Ricart-Agrawal algorithm (1981) both have a synchronization delay of T (T is the average message delay), but their message complexity is O(N). Maekawa's algorithm reduces the message complexity to O(√N); however, it increases the synchronization delay to 2T. After Maekawa's algorithm (1985), many quorum-based mutual exclusion algorithms have been proposed to reduce the message complexity or the increase the resiliency to site and communication link failures. Since these algorithms are Maekawa-type algorithms, they also suffer from the long synchronization delay. We propose a delay-optimal quorum-based mutual exclusion algorithm which reduces the synchronization delay to T and still has a low message complexity of O(K) (K is the size of the quorum which can be as low as log N). A correctness proof and a detailed performance analysis are provided     

A mutual exclusion algorithm with optimally bounded bypasses

Peterson's algorithm [G.L. Peterson, Myths about the mutual exclusion problem, Inform. Process. Lett. 12 (3) (1981) 115-116] for mutual exclusion has been widely studied for its elegance and simplicity. In Peterson's algorithm, each process has to cross n−1 stages to access the shared resource irrespective of the contention for the shared resource at that time, and allows unbounded bypasses. In [K. Block, T.-K. Woo, A more efficient generalization of Peterson's mutual exclusion algorithm, Inform. Process. Lett. 35 (1990) 219-222], Block and Woo proposed a modified algorithm that transforms the number stages to be crossed from fixed n−1 to t, where 1?t?n, and bounds the number of possible bypasses by n(n−1)/2. This paper proposes a simple modification that reduces the bound on the number of possible bypasses to optimal n−1.     

A resilient mutual exclusion algorithm for computer networks

The authors present an extension to the work of I. Suzuki and T. Kasami (see Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. Distributed Compact Syst., p.365-70 (1982)), where a mutual exclusion algorithm uses a message called a token to transfer the privilege of entering a critical region among the participating sites. The proposed algorithm checks whether the token is lost during network failure, and regenerates it if necessary. The mutual exclusion requirement is satisfied by guaranteeing regeneration of only one token in the network. Failures in a computer network are classified into three types: processor failure, communication controller failure, and communication link failure. To detect failures, a time-out mechanism based on message delay is used. The execution of the algorithm is described for each type of failure; each site follows a rather simple execution procedure. Each site is not required to observe the failure of other sites or communication links     

A dynamic information-structure mutual exclusion algorithm fordistributed systems

A dynamic information-structure mutual exclusion algorithm is presented for distributed systems whose information-structure evolves with time as sites learn about the state of the system through messages. An interesting feature of the algorithm is that it adapts itself to heterogeneous or fluctuating traffic conditions to optimize the performance (the number of messages exchanged). The performance of the algorithm is studied by simulation technique and compared to the performance of a well-known mutual exclusion algorithm. The impact message loss and site failures on the algorithm is discussed and methods to tolerate these failures are proposed     

改进的分布式互斥请求集生成算法

在分布式系统中,各节点必须互斥地访问临界区.节点的请求集的长度决定了系统的效率、性能.虽然最优请求集的节点数最少(大约n),但已有的解决方案该类问题算法类似于穷举法,随着节点的增加,该方法变得不可计算.提出了一种快速的请求集生成算法,该算法以循环差集请求集生成算法的理论和贪心算法的基本思想为基础,在每次迭代的过程中,选出一个当前条件下最优的节点加入请求集.与其他的方法相比较,该方法能对任意给定的整数快速、有效地生成对称的请求集.本算法时间复杂度为O(n2),生成的请求集长度为n～2n.     

A fault tolerant mutual exclusion algorithm for mobile ad hoc networks

In this paper, we propose a permission-based message efficient mutual exclusion (MUTEX) algorithm for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). To reduce messages cost, the algorithm uses the “look-ahead” technique, which enforces MUTEX only among the hosts currently competing for the critical section. We propose mechanisms to handle dozes and disconnections of mobile hosts. The assumption of FIFO channel in the original “look-ahead” technique is also relaxed. The proposed algorithm can also tolerate link or host failures, using timeout-based mechanisms. Both analytical and simulation results show that the proposed algorithm works well under various conditions, especially when the mobility is high or load level is low. To our knowledge, this is the first permission-based MUTEX algorithm for MANETs.     

A circular list based mutual exclusion scheme for largeshared-memory multiprocessors

Mutual exclusion in shared-memory multiprocessors is realized by employing a lock to determine the processor among those which compete for the critical section. Accesses to such a mutual exclusion lock may create heavy synchronization traffic and/or serious contention over the network, thereby degrading system performance considerably. In this paper, we introduce an efficient scheme which keeps synchronization traffic low and avoids serious hot-spot contention. This is made possible by constructing a circular list of the processors waiting for the critical section and by dispersing accesses to the lock. Extensive simulation of the proposed approach was conducted and the lower bound on the elapsed time was derived. Our simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme indeed achieves better performance than prior techniques, with its elapsed time close to the lower bound for the whole range of simulated system sizes, thus promising good scalability for large systems     

Optimal algorithm for mutual exclusion in mesh-connected computer networks

A distributed algorithm is presented that realizes mutual exclusion among n nodes in a mesh-connected computer network. The nodes communicate by using messages only, and there is no global controller. The algorithm requires at most 3.5 √n messages per mutual exclusion invocation under light demand, and reduces to approximately four messages under heavy demand. The time required to achieve mutual exclusion is shown to be minimal under some general assumptions.     

A priority-based distributed group mutual exclusion algorithm when group access is non-uniform

In the group mutual exclusion problem, each critical section has a type or a group associated with it. Processes requesting critical sections belonging to the same group (that is, of the same type) may execute their critical sections concurrently. However, processes requesting critical sections belonging to different groups (that is, of different types) must execute their critical sections in a mutually exclusive manner.     

A simple token-based algorithm for the mutual exclusion problem in distributed systems

Solving the problem of mutually exclusive access to a critical resource is a major challenge in distributed systems. In some solutions, there is a unique token in the whole system which acts as a privilege to access a critical resource. Practical and easily implemented, the token-ring algorithm is one of the most popular token-based mutual exclusion algorithms known in this field’s literature. However, it suffers from low scalability and a high average waiting time for resource seekers. The present paper proposes a new algorithm which employs a two-dimensional torus logical structure of N processes and the token-ring algorithm concept. It performs in a way that increasingly raises scalability and reduces the average waiting time of the token-ring algorithm. The token makes a circular movement along the columns of the two-dimensional torus (vertical ring), while the requests for the critical resource make a circular movement along the rows of the torus (horizontal ring). In this algorithm, the number of messages exchanged is between \(2\sqrt{{N}}+1\) and 3\(\sqrt{{N}}+1\) under light load situations and, under heavy load situations, is at the most three messages per critical section invocation. Thus, in contrast with the leading algorithms, the proposed algorithm has gained significant improvements, in addition to having been proved to operate correctly.     

Queue based mutual exclusion with linearly bounded overtaking

The queue based mutual exclusion protocol establishes mutual exclusion for N>1 threads by means of not necessarily atomic variables. In order to enter the critical section, a competing thread needs to traverse as many levels as there are currently competing threads. Competing threads can be overtaken by other competing threads. It is proved here, however, that every competing thread is overtaken less than N times, and that the overtaking threads were competing when the first one of them exits.     

Superstabilizing mutual exclusion

Summary. A superstabilizing protocol is a protocol that i is self-stabilizing, meaning that it can recover from an arbitrarily severe transient fault; and ii can recover from a local transient fault while satisfying a passage predicate during recovery. This paper investigates the possibility of superstabilizing protocols for mutual exclusion in a ring of processors, where a local fault consists of any transient fault at a single processor; the passage predicate specifies that there be at most one token in the ring, with the single exception of a spurious token colocated with the transient fault. The first result of the paper is an impossibility theorem for a class of superstabilizing mutual exclusion protocols. Two unidirectional protocols are then presented to show that conditions for impossibility can independently be relaxed so that superstabilization is possible using either additional time or communication registers. A bidirectional protocol subsequently demonstrates that superstabilization in O(1) time is possible. All three superstabilizing protocols are optimal with respect to the number of communication registers used. Received: August 1996 / Accepted: March 1999     

A hybrid token-based distributed mutual exclusion algorithm using wraparound two-dimensional array logical topology

In token-based distributed mutual exclusion algorithms a unique object (token) is used to grant the right to enter the critical section. For the movement of the token within the computer network, two possible methods can be considered: perpetual mobility of the token and token-asking method. This paper presents a distributed token-based algorithm scheduling mutually exclusive access to a critical resource by the processes in a distributed network. This network is composed of N nodes that communicate by message exchanges. The proposed hybrid algorithm imposes a logical structure in the form of wraparound two-dimensional array on the network. It applies the concept of perpetual mobility of the token in columns and token-asking in rows of the array. The major purpose of the algorithm is to increase the scalability property and decrease overhead due to additional communication in a system with at least one unresponded critical section request at any given time. In this status, typically, the number of message exchanges is between and under light demand and reduces to message exchanges under heavy demand. Therefore, it outperforms lots of well known algorithms in terms of number of messages exchanged. The algorithm satisfies safety and liveness properties.     

Closing the complexity gap between FCFS mutual exclusion and mutual exclusion

First-Come-First-Served (FCFS) mutual exclusion (ME) is the problem of ensuring that processes attempting to concurrently access a shared resource do so one by one, in a fair order. In this paper, we close the complexity gap between FCFS ME and ME in the asynchronous shared memory model where processes communicate using atomic reads and writes only, and do not fail. Our main result is the first known FCFS ME algorithm that makes O(log N) remote memory references (RMRs) per passage and uses only atomic reads and writes. Our algorithm is also adaptive to point contention. More precisely, the number of RMRs a process makes per passage in our algorithm is Θ(min(k, log N)), where k is the point contention. Our algorithm matches known RMR complexity lower bounds for the class of ME algorithms that use reads and writes only, and beats the RMR complexity of prior algorithms in this class that have the FCFS property.