A Survey of Distributed Dataset Synchronization in Named Data Networking

Distributed synchronization of a shared dataset (sync for short) provides a powerful abstraction for connectionagnostic multi-party communication in NDN. In recent years, several sync protocols have been proposed, each featuring different design choices in data naming, namespace representation, and state propagation mechanisms, which lead to different design tradeoffs. In this report, we survey these protocols and, through detailed analysis and side-by-side comparisons, highlight their commonalities and fundamental differences. We also articulate the remaining issues that must be addressed to make the sync protocols available to all applications, shedding the light on future work directions in this important area of NDN architecture research.