Optimizing information flow in the Gossip Objects platform

Abstract

Gossip-based protocols are commonly used for diffusing information in large-scale distributed applications. GO (Gossip Objects) is a per-node gossip platform that we developed in support of this class of protocols. GO allows nodes to join multiple gossip groups without losing the appealing fixed bandwidth guarantee of gossip protocols, and the platform also optimizes latency in a principled manner. Our algorithm is based on the observations that multiple rumors can often be squeezed into a single IP packet, and that indirect routing of rumors can speed up delivery. We formalize these observations and develop a theoretical analysis of this algorithm. We have also implemented GO, and studied the effectiveness of the algorithm by comparing it to the more standard random dissemination gossip strategy.