Read-only operations processing in a paxos replication system

A computer program product for implementing a method for determining, for a distributed computer system being operated under the Paxos protocol, a processing order for read-only requests, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the computing system, cause the computing system to perform the method, the method comprising:

• an act of a quorum leader receiving one or more read-only requests, wherein the quorum leader controls process ordering for replicas in the quorum;
• an act of determining an appropriate order for processing the read-only operations, wherein the determined order indicates an appropriate execution slot number for the read-only operation, the determination being performed without clock-based synchronization;
• an act of adding an indication to the read-only operation indicating that the operation is to be executed no earlier than the determined execution slot number;
• an act of sending the read-only request and the determined execution slot number to a determined appropriate replica in the quorum;
• and
• an act of executing the read-only request at the determined appropriate replica without storing the operation persistently.

A computer system comprising the following:

• one or more processors;
• system memory;
• one or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the computing system to perform a method for directing read-only requests in a distributed computer system being operated under the Paxos protocol to nodes best able to handle the requests, the method comprising the following:
• an act of a quorum leader receiving one or more read-only requests from a requesting client, wherein the quorum leader controls process ordering for replicas in the quorum;
• an act of determining an appropriate order for processing the read-only operations, the determination being performed without clock-based synchronization;
• an act of determining which replicas are best able to handle the read-only requests;
• an act of sending the read-only request to a replica that is determined to be best able to handle the read-only request;
• and
• an act of executing the read-only request at the determined replica without storing the operation persistently.