Alibaba Group Holding Limited
Performing a change of primary node in a distributed system

Abstract:

A method of performing a change of a primary node in a blockchain network includes a backup node of the blockchain network determining that an epoch change needs to be performed, determining a respective weight of the backup node associated with each of three phases of a consensus process in a current epoch, determining a weight sum for the backup node based on the respective weights, sending an EPOCH_CHANGE message to the other network nodes to apply for a new primary node in a new epoch, receiving NEW_EPOCH messages from the other network nodes, determining whether a number of valid NEW_EPOCH messages exceeds a second predetermined threshold, and determining the backup node to be the new primary node in the new epoch in response to determining that the number of valid NEW_EPOCH messages exceeds the second predetermined threshold.