Gossip protocol
Each node periodically tells a random peer what it knows.
Origin
Demers et al., "Epidemic Algorithms for Replicated Database Maintenance," PODC 1987. Cassandra (2008) brought gossip into mainstream production.
Where it shows up in production
- Cassandra & ScyllaDB Cluster membership, schema agreement, repair coordination — all gossip.
- HashiCorp Consul Uses Serf, a SWIM-based gossip layer, for cluster membership.
- Bitcoin Block and transaction propagation across the peer-to-peer network is gossip-style.
Sources & further reading
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