raft-read-index-relaxed-order.md

Raft: (Optimize): ReadIndex: Less Latency through Relaxed Ordering

This approach is proposed by neog24

In Raft, the ReadIndex is used to implement linearizable read operations. We can lower the latency of read requests by relaxing the ordering requirements in the standard Raft protocol.

ReadIndex Process in Raft

Raft's ReadIndex process ensures consistent reads across the cluster through these steps:

1. Step-1: Initial Commit Check: The leader checks if its latest term's entry is committed. If not, it defers the read.

2. Step-2: Setting the ReadIndex: Once a log is committed for the current term, the leader sets the ReadIndex to its current CommitIndex.

3. Step-3: Leader Confirmation: A heartbeat is sent to the quorum to ensure no other higher term exists at that moment.

4. Step-4: Index Synchronization: The leader waits for the StateMachine to apply entries up to the ReadIndex before reading, ensuring data consistency.

The steps in Raft's ReadIndex process are designed to ensure linearizable reads, guaranteeing that a read operation will reflect all preceding updates in the system's timeline.

Optimized ReadIndex Process

• Set ReadIndex to NoopIndex: Upon receiving a read request, the Leader sets the ReadIndex to the index of the first log in its current term, i.e., the index of the Noop log that the Leader writes immediately after becoming the Leader (denoted as NoopIndex), instead of using the CommitIndex as in the standard process.
• (The behavior of sending heartbeats remains unchanged).
• Execute read after AppliedIndex reaches NoopIndex: Once the Leader's AppliedIndex reaches or surpasses the NoopIndex, it immediately reads from the StateMachine without waiting for the AppliedIndex to reach the CommitIndex.

With this optimization, read operations still satisfy the linearizability property:

• A read request will see the results of all write operations completed before it.
• A read request will see at least the state observed by any read requests processed before it.

Relaxed Ordering

In this optimization, we relax the strict ordering of requests as defined in the standard Raft protocol:

• Standard Raft definition: There is a clear sequential ordering of requests received by the server. Later requests should see the state changes produced by earlier write requests and the state observed by earlier read requests.
• Optimized definition: A clear ordering between requests is only established when a request has already sent a response back to the client. If a second request is received before the first request has finished processing, there is no defined order between them on the server side. The processing order of these concurrent requests is arbitrary and does not violate consistency.

Guaranteeing Linearizability

Assume a read request r is received by the Raft server at time t. Let's consider both write and read requests that occurred before time t.

For a Write Request w Before Time t

• If w was proposed by a previous Leader: When AppliedIndex reaches NoopIndex, the state machine includes all logs from previous leaders. Thus, r will see w's result.
• If w was proposed by the current Leader:
  • If w has responded to client: w is applied to the state machine, ensuring r sees w's result.
  • If w hasn't responded: Under relaxed ordering, w and r have no defined order. Either outcome maintains linearizability.

For Read Request r0 Before Time t

• If r0 was processed on another server: Since r0 only sees committed content, and current Leader contains all previous Leaders' committed content before NoopIndex, r will see at least r0's state.
• If r0 was processed on current server: Sequential processing ensures r sees at least r0's state.

From this analysis, we can see that by relaxing the strict ordering of requests, the optimization still guarantees linearizability. This optimization reduces the waiting time for read operations, thereby decreasing read latency.