Byzantine Generals Problem

Return to Glossary

Byzantine Generals Problem is when a reliable computer system must be able to cope with the failure of one or more of its components (i.e., Byzantine Fault. A failed component may exhibit a type of behavior that is often overlooked -- namely, sending conflicting information to different parts of the system. The problem of coping with this type of failure is expressed abstractly as the Byzantine Generals Problem. 1) The Byzantine Generals Problem“, Leslie Lamport, Robert Shostak, and Marshal Pesse, SRI International, July 1983, Byzantine Generals Problem