From 559bccccd40d028e412d9f11709ded0250ba6dcd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Linus Nordberg <linus@nordberg.se>
Date: Tue, 24 May 2022 23:33:38 +0200
Subject: implement primary and secondary role, for replication

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+# 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
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