1.3.2.1 Signature

The signature is defined to be the lowest node ID in the graph. The node with the lowest node ID is called the signature node. The signature node publishes the signature record and refreshes it periodically.

If a node receives a signature record containing a node ID that is higher than that of the local node ID, it will update the signature record to contain the local node ID.

When a signature node leaves the graph, it deletes the signature record. Each node sees this deletion and does a random back-off with a waiting period proportional to its node ID. This causes the nodes with the lowest node IDs to publish the signature record sooner, minimizing the number of times that an incorrect signature record is republished.

The process of publishing the signature record, and updating the record when it is found to be incorrect, is called signature record. For more information, see section 3.1.7.11.

The signature record is different from all other record types in that it has a fixed record ID.