Requirements

Let’s list the requirements of designing a key-value store to overcome the problems of traditional databases.

Functional requirements

Typically, key-value stores are expected to offer functions such as get and put. However, what sets this particular key-value store system apart is its distinct characteristics, explained as follows:

• Configurable …

Add scalability

Let’s start with one of the core design requirements: scalability. We store key-value data in storage nodes. With a change in demand, we might need to add or remove storage nodes. It means we need to partition data over the nodes in the system to distribute the …

Data versioning

When network partitions and node failures occur during an update, an object’s version history might become fragmented. As a result, it requires a reconciliation effort on the part of the system. It’s necessary to build a way that explicitly accepts the potential of several copies of …

Handle temporary failures

Typically, distributed systems use a quorum-based approach to handle failures. A quorum is the minimum number of votes required for a distributed transaction to proceed with an operation. If a server is part of the consensus and is down, then we can’t perform the required operation …

As we discussed earlier, databases are divided into two types: relational and non-relational. Let’s discuss these types in detail.

Relational databases

Relational databases adhere to particular schemas before storing the data. The data stored in relational databases has prior structure. Mostly, this model organizes data into one or more …

Data is a valuable asset for an organization because it drives the entire business.

Data provides critical business insights into what’s important and what needs to be changed. Organizations also need to securely save and serve their clients’ data on demand. Timely access to the required data under varying …

Why do we partition data?

Data is an asset for any organization. Increasing data and concurrent read/write traffic to the data puts scalability pressure on traditional databases. As a result, the latency and throughput are affected. Traditional databases are attractive due to their properties such as range queries, secondary …

Which is the best database sharding approach?

Both horizontal and vertical sharding involve adding resources to our computing infrastructure. Our business stakeholders must decide which is suitable for our organization. We must scale our resources accordingly for our organization and business to grow, to prevent downtime, and to reduce latency …

Introduction

From the previous lesson, it may seem like load balancing is performed only within the data center. However, load balancing is required at a global and a local scale. Let’s understand the function of each of the two:

• Global server load balancing (GSLB): GSLB involves the distribution of …

This lesson will focus on some of the well-known algorithms used in the local load balancers. We’ll also understand how load balancers are connected to form a hierarchy, sharing work across different tiers of LBs.

Algorithms of load balancers

Load balancers distribute client requests according to an algorithm. Some …