mars docs

Resolution cascade

How MARS-S finds an entry across the topology.

client.request(did)
  ↓
local shard:   has entry?  → return  (P50 12ms)
  ↓ miss
regional cluster: fan-out across local cluster shards (P95 48ms)
  ↓ miss
global anchor:  is there a root?  yes → fetch from primary shard
                                  no  → return 404

Three rules

  1. Never bypass the cascade. A client that goes straight to GAL degrades the whole network. Resolvers MUST start at the local shard.
  2. Cache aggressively. Every successful resolution at hop 2 or 3 is pushed back into the local shard's cache for the next caller.
  3. Negative results count. A 404 from GAL is cached short-TTL so subsequent resolutions of the same dead DID don't traverse the cascade.

Tail latency

P50 12ms · P95 48ms · P99 ~200ms · P99.9 ~600ms (cold GAL hit).