TECHNIQUES FOR OPERATING A DISTRIBUTED COMMUNICATION NETWORK

A distributed network of communication nodes is organized in a hierarchy of clusters. Upon deployment, nodes exchange messages to form an upper layer cluster and multiple lower layer clusters. Each lower layer cluster may be in communication with one upper layer cluster node, which may function to communicate messages to/from the nodes in the lower layer cluster to the upper layer nodes. Cluster formations may be achieved by exchanging messages among member nodes. The communication between nodes during the operation of the distributed network is based on a consensus protocol such as a modified Paxos protocol, as described herein.