Abstract:

Consensus algorithm is not only a key component of blockchain technology, but also a hot topic in distributed systems research in recent years. New consensus algorithms have been proposed during the quickly-growing of Bitcoin and blockchain technology, followed by the verification of those improved algorithms. And there are more than 50 consensus algorithms which have official names. This paper studies some consensus algorithms and introduces the classic distributed consistency algorithms, as well as the milestone research efforts and the key conclusions of distributed consensus algorithms. This paper propose two approaches to improve the Raft consistency algorithms, and hope this paper could be a useful guidance and reference for the future innovation work of novel consensus algorithms and the development of blockchain technology.

Key words: blockchain, consensus algorithms, distributed systems, Raft