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author | Linus Nordberg <linus@nordberg.se> | 2022-05-24 23:33:38 +0200 |
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committer | Rasmus Dahlberg <rasmus@mullvad.net> | 2022-06-23 11:33:17 +0200 |
commit | 559bccccd40d028e412d9f11709ded0250ba6dcd (patch) | |
tree | 50f3193dbe70fec21357963c11e5f663013f4b4c /doc/design.md | |
parent | 4b20ef0c1732bcef633c0ed7104501898aa84e2c (diff) |
implement primary and secondary role, for replicationv0.5.0
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/design.md')
-rw-r--r-- | doc/design.md | 96 |
1 files changed, 96 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/design.md b/doc/design.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5478d80 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/design.md @@ -0,0 +1,96 @@ +# sigsum_log_go design + +This document describes the design of `sigsum_log_go`, an +implementation of +[Sigsum](https://git.sigsum.org/sigsum/tree/doc/design.md). + +## General + +TODO: add general design info + +A log instance + +- has one signing key, + +- is made up of one or more log nodes -- primary and secondary, + +- has at any given time exactly one primary and zero or more, + secondaries + +- should really have at least one secondary node, to not risk losing + data, + +- confirms new leaves (add-leaf returning HTTP code 200) once they + have been incorporated in the tree and sequenced but not before. + +Log nodes + +- publish two API:s, one public and one for use by other nodes of the + same log instance. + +## Roles -- primary and secondary + +A log node is configured to act as the `primary` node, or to act as a +`secondary` node. A primary is configured to know the base URL and +pubkey of zero or more secondaries. A secondary is configured to know +the base URL and pubkey of one primary. + +### Interaction + +A primary node that has no secondary nodes configured is the single +node in a test instance and lacks all means of recovering from storage +failures. This configuration is only recommended for testing of the +software. + +A primary node that has at least one secondary node configured + +- fetches and verifies the tree head from all its secondaries using + the internal API endpoint `getTreeHeadToCosign` (TBD: rename + endpoint to be uniquely named across both API:s?) + +- considers a secondary node that can not be reached to have a tree + size of zero, + +- advances its tree head no further than to the lowest tree size of + all its secondary nodes. + +A secondary node: + +- runs a Trillian server configured with a `PREORDERED_LOG` tree and + without a sequencer, + +- periodically fetches all leaves from the primary using the internal + API endpoints `getTreeHeadUnsigned` and `getLeaves`, + +- populates Trillian with the leaves fetched from its primary, in the + order that they are delivered, + +- should advance its tree head more often than its primary node, + typically every few seconds. + +### Promoting a secondary to become the primary + +In order to promote a secondary node to become the primary node of a +log instance, the following things need to be done: + +1. Shutting down the secondary. This effectively stops the primary + from advancing its tree head, regardless of its current status. + +1. Converting the Trillian tree from type `PREORDERED_LOG` to type + `LOG`, using `updatetree`. Note that the tree needs to be `FROZEN` + before changing the tree type and unfrozen (`ACTIVE`) afterwards. + +1. Configuring the secondary to use the signing key of the log instance. + +1. Starting the secondary with `-role primary` and at least one + secondary node. + +In order for clients to reach the new primary rather than the old one, +DNS record changes are usually needed as well. + + +### Open questions + +- should secondaries publish the public API as well, but reply with + "404 not primary"? clients ending up at a secondary might benefit + from this |