Foundations of Scalable Systems: Designing Distributed Architectures

Scalability is a key factor in many systems, but design decisions that made sense under light loads can become technical debt. This book covers design approaches and technologies to scale an application quickly and cost-effectively, including replication, state management, load balancing, and caching. It also focuses on the implications of scalability for databases, microservices, and event-based streaming systems.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 275 pages
Publication date: 20 July 2022
Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Scalability becomes a critical factor as user bases expand in numerous systems. Attractive features and high utility drive success, leading to increased demand for handling requests and managing data. However, organizations encounter a pivotal point when design choices that were suitable for light loads accumulate as technical debt. This practical guide delves into design approaches and technologies enabling rapid and cost-effective scaling of applications. Author Ian Gorton guides software architects and developers through the principles of foundational distributed systems. You will explore essential components of scalable solutions, such as replication, state management, load balancing, and caching. Dedicated chapters focus on the implications of scalability for databases, microservices, and event-based streaming systems. You will focus on:

Foundations of Scalable Systems: Gain a comprehensive understanding of scalability's principles, costs, and architectural tradeoffs.

Designing Scalable Services: Dive into service design, caching, asynchronous messaging, serverless processing, and microservices.

Designing Scalable Data Systems: Learn the fundamentals of data systems, explore NoSQL databases, and understand the differences between eventual consistency and strong consistency.

Designing Scalable Streaming Systems: Explore stream processing systems and scalable event-driven processing techniques.

ISBN-13: 9781098106065