Akka Split Brain Resolver – Problem and its Solution

AKKA Split Brain Resolver

When operating an Akka cluster the developer will surely comes around network partitions (Split Brain scenarios) and machine crashes. There are multiple strategies present by lightbend to handle such erratic behavior and, after a deeper explanation of the problem we are facing, I will try to present them along with their pros and cons using the Split Brain Resolver in Akka, which is a part of the Reactive Platform.

The Problem Statement

The basic is as follows – a node cannot differentiate between complete crashes and temporary network failures that could get resolved.

– In our current scenarios the network tracks the state and health of the nodes it contains using a “heartbeat”. This is a mechanism where each node sends a simple message in a given interval (for example with a time delta) to every other node that basically says “I’m OK”. The system makes…