An efficient logging and recovery scheme for lazy release consistent distributed shared memory systems

Checkpointing and logging are widely used techniques to provide fault-toler ance for the distributed systems. However, logging imposes too much overhea d on the processing to be a practical solution. In this paper, we propose a low-overhead logging scheme for the distributed shared memory system based on the lazy release consistency memory model. Unlike the previous schemes in which the logging is performed when a new data item is accessed by a pro cess, the stable logging in the proposed scheme is performed only when a lo ck grant causes an actual dependency relation between the processes, which significantly reduces the logging frequency. Also, instead of making a stab le log of the accessed data items, a process logs stably only some access i nformation, and the accessed data items are saved in the volatile log. For the recovery from a failure, the correct version of the accessed data items can be effectively traced by using the logged access information. As a res ult, the amount of logged information can also be reduced. (C) 2000 Elsevie r Science B.V. All rights reserved.