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Concept
Gossip protocol
Summary
A gossip protocol or epidemic protocol is a procedure or process of computer peer-to-peer communication that is based on the way epidemics spread. Some distributed systems use peer-to-peer gossip to ensure that data is disseminated to all members of a group. Some ad-hoc networks have no central registry and the only way to spread common data is to rely on each member to pass it along to their neighbors.
The concept of gossip communication can be illustrated by the analogy of office workers spreading rumors. Let's say each hour the office workers congregate around the water cooler. Each employee pairs off with another, chosen at random, and shares the latest gossip. At the start of the day, Dave starts a new rumor: he comments to Bob that he believes that Charlie dyes his mustache. At the next meeting, Bob tells Alice, while Dave repeats the idea to Eve. After each water cooler rendezvous, the number of individuals who have heard the rumor roughly doubles (though this doesn't account for gossiping twice to the same person; perhaps Dave tries to tell the story to Frank, only to find that Frank already heard it from Alice). Computer systems typically implement this type of protocol with a form of random "peer selection": with a given frequency, each machine picks another machine at random and shares any rumors.
There are probably hundreds of variants of specific gossip-like protocols because each use-scenario is likely to be customized to the organization's specific needs.
For example, a gossip protocol might employ some of these ideas:
The core of the protocol involves periodic, pairwise, inter-process interactions.
The information exchanged during these interactions is of bounded size.
When agents interact, the state of at least one agent changes to reflect the state of the other.
Reliable communication is not assumed.
The frequency of the interactions is low compared to typical message latencies so that the protocol costs are negligible.
There is some form of randomness in the peer selection.
Official source
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