Summary.txt

Name: Umang Thakur

Late Days Remaining: 5

# Assignment Overview:

In this project, the objective was to enhance the fault tolerance of a Key-Value Store Server, previously implemented in Project #3,
by integrating the Paxos consensus algorithm. The Paxos algorithm, as described in Lamport papers, is implemented for the roles
of Proposers, Acceptors, and Learners across five distinct servers. The focus was on realizing fault-tolerant consensus for KV-store
operations, particularly PUT and DELETE, to ensure continual operation despite replica failures. Acceptors, at a minimum, are configured
to "fail" periodically, simulating random failures in the system. The project aims to showcase how Paxos effectively manages replicated
server failures and achieves consensus in event ordering.

# Technical Impressions:

In Project #4, I delved into the world of distributed systems, focusing on making the Paxos consensus algorithm work. It was a mix of
excitement and challenge as I played different roles like Proposers, Acceptors, and Learners. Although it initially seemed tough to put
these roles together, I gradually understood how they functioned and realized how we can make things agree in a system spread out over
multiple parts.

Implementing Paxos taught me the importance of carefully ordering events and dealing with failures. Creating situations that could actually
happen while sticking to Paxos rules was tricky. Making different roles collaborate, causing failures, and then fixing everything taught me
how hard it is to balance safety and availability.

Throughout this project, I gained a deeper understanding of the complexities of real-world distributed systems. It's crucial to think about
what might go wrong, ensure things keep running, and make sure everyone in the system agrees. This assignment also showed me that different
ways of making agreements have their own pros and cons. Paxos, for example, focuses a lot on being consistent and reliable, which makes
sense given how challenging it is to make distributed systems work together. Overall, this project was like a fascinating journey into
handling problems and getting everyone to agree, allowing me to dive deep into the world of distributed systems.