How to derive a sequence number in paxos

Question

In paxos, every proposer independently generates a sequence number for its proposal. So let's say a proposer keeps on generating higher numbered sequence number. Won't this proposer because he is generating higher sequence number nullify other proposers proposals? i.e. is there a possibility in paxos where one proposer always dominate?

Answer 1

That would be a problem if your proposer was acting badly. In practice the proposers follow a simple protocol for choosing sequencers.

For example, in one system I maintained a list of allowed proposers was replicated along with the data, so all proposers had a position p. A proposer would always choose its ith sequence number like this: seqno(i, p) = i * len(proposers) + p. Thus every proposer had a unique set of (interleaved) sequence numbers to choose from.