Next: Distribution:
Up: Criteria for Comparison
Previous: Programming Model:
The consistency criterion addresses the
the level of consistency guaranteed by the system for updates to
the global data structure. Strong consistency guarantees that at
the end of an update, every subsequent access will provide the
updated value. Weak consistency guarantees that an update will be
made global - but it does not guarantee that successive accesses
will be consistent; i.e. the user has to explicitly ensure that a
previous update has completed before an access.
Finally, some system provide no consistency guarantees and require
all updates to be made global explicitly.
Manish Parashar, parashar@cs.utexas.edu