Optimal Information- ispersal for Increasing the eliability of a Distributed Service
Hung–Min Sun, Shiuhpyng Winston Shieh · 1997
Summary & Conclusions - This paper investigates the (m, n) information dispersal scheme (IDS) used to support fault-tolerant distributed servers in a distributed system. In an (m, n)-IDS, a file M is broken into n pieces such that any m pieces collected suffice for reconstructing M. The reliability of an (m, n)-IDS is primarily determined by 3 important factors: . n = information dispersal degree (IDD), . n/m = information expansion ratio (IER), . P, = success-probability of acquiring a correct piece. It is difficult to determine the optimal IDS with the highest reliability from very many choices. Our analysis shows: . several novel features of (m, n)-IDS which can help reduce the complexity of finding the optimal IDS with the highest reliability; . that an IDS with a higher IER might not have a higher reliability, even when P, -+ 1.