Question 1 of 5
2025-03-13
In a distributed consensus system using the Paxos algorithm, what is the purpose of the "prepare" phase, and how does it contribute to achieving consensus despite failures? The prepare phase ensures that all proposers agree on a single value before submitting it to the acceptors, preventing conflicts and ensuring consistency. The prepare phase establishes a quorum of acceptors that have promised not to accept proposals with lower ballot numbers, preventing stale proposals from disrupting the consensus process. The prepare phase coordinates the communication between proposers and learners, ensuring that learners are notified of the chosen value in a timely manner. The prepare phase detects and resolves network partitions, preventing split-brain scenarios and ensuring that the system maintains a single consistent state.