Replication is a topic of interest in the distributed computing distributed systems and
database communities. Although these communities have traditionally looked at replication from
different viewpoints and with different goals (e.g. performance versus fault tolerance)
recent developments have led to a convergence of these different goals. The objective of this
state-of-the-art survey is not to speculate about the future of replication but rather to
understand the present to make an assessment of approximately 30 years of research on
replication and to present a comprehensive view of the achievements made during this period of
time. This book is the outcome of the seminar entitled A 30-Year Perspective on Replication
which was held at Monte Verità Ascona Switzerland in November 2007. The book is organized in
13 self-contained chapters written by most of the people who have contributed to developing
state-of-the-art replication techniques. It presents a comprehensive view of existing solutions
from a theoretical as well as from a practical point of view. It covers replication of
processes objects and of databases replication for fault tolerance and replication for
performance - benign faults and malicious (Byzantine) faults - thus forming a basis for both
professionals and students of distributed computing distributed systems and databases.
