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System Design > Scaling > Flashcards

Scaling Flashcards

1
Q
  1. What is scalability?
A

Scalability refers to the ability of a system

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2
Q
  1. What are the two types of scalability?
A

Vertical Scalability (Scaling Up) and Horizontal Scalability (Scaling Out).

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3
Q
  1. What is Vertical Scalability?
A

Vertical Scalability involves adding more resources (CPU

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4
Q
  1. What is an example of Vertical Scalability?
A

Upgrading a database server from 16GB to 64GB of RAM.

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5
Q
  1. What are the pros of Vertical Scalability?
A

Simple to implement and no changes to the application code.

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6
Q
  1. What are the cons of Vertical Scalability?
A

Limited by the hardware capacity of a single machine and can become expensive.

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7
Q
  1. What is Horizontal Scalability?
A

Horizontal Scalability involves adding more machines (or nodes) to distribute the load.

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8
Q
  1. What is an example of Horizontal Scalability?
A

Adding multiple servers to handle web traffic.

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9
Q
  1. What are the pros of Horizontal Scalability?
A

Practically unlimited scalability and high fault tolerance.

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10
Q
  1. What are the cons of Horizontal Scalability?
A

More complex to implement and requires distributed system design.

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11
Q
  1. What are the three dimensions of scalability?
A

Performance Scalability

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12
Q
  1. What is Performance Scalability?
A

The ability to improve response times under increased load.

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13
Q
  1. What is Capacity Scalability?
A

The ability to handle a higher volume of users

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14
Q
  1. What is Geographic Scalability?
A

The ability to maintain performance across geographically dispersed locations.

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15
Q
  1. What is Load Balancing?
A

Load Balancing distributes incoming requests across multiple servers to balance the load and improve performance.

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16
Q
  1. What is an example of Load Balancing?
A

A website uses a load balancer to distribute traffic across 5 backend servers.

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17
Q
  1. What is Caching?
A

Caching temporarily stores frequently accessed data in a faster storage layer to reduce the load on backend systems.

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18
Q
  1. What is an example of Caching?
A

Using a Redis or Memcached server to store session data.

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19
Q
  1. What is Database Sharding?
A

Database Sharding divides a database into smaller

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20
Q
  1. What is an example of Database Sharding?
A

A large e-commerce platform shards its database by customer region.

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21
Q
  1. What is Data Replication?
A

Data Replication creates multiple copies of the same data to improve availability and read performance.

22
Q
  1. What is an example of Data Replication?
A

A primary database replicates its data to a read-only replica for analytical queries.

23
Q
  1. What is Partitioning?
A

Partitioning divides datasets into smaller

24
Q
  1. What is an example of Partitioning?
A

Log files are partitioned by time periods (e.g.

25
Q
  1. What is a common scalability challenge related to bottlenecks?
A

A single slow component in the system (e.g.

26
Q
  1. What is the solution to bottlenecks?
A

Identify and optimize bottlenecks using profiling tools.

27
Q
  1. What is the CAP Theorem?
A

The CAP Theorem states that in distributed systems

28
Q
  1. What is a solution to the CAP Theorem challenge?
A

Choose the right trade-off based on system requirements.

29
Q
  1. What is a common challenge in distributed systems?
A

Adding nodes and designing for distributed systems increases architectural complexity.

30
Q
  1. What is a solution to distributed system complexity?
A

Use proven design patterns and tools like Kubernetes for orchestration.

31
Q
  1. What is the difference between Scalability and Performance?
A

Scalability is the system’s ability to grow

32
Q
  1. What are some Load Balancing Algorithms?
A

Round Robin

33
Q
  1. What is an example question about Load Balancing Algorithms?
A

Explain how a least-connections algorithm works.

34
Q
  1. What are some techniques to scale a relational database?
A

Vertical vs. Horizontal database scaling

35
Q
  1. What is an example question about scaling a relational database?
A

How would you scale a relational database to handle 10x traffic?

36
Q
  1. Why are stateless systems easier to scale?
A

Stateless systems are easier to scale as they don’t maintain session state.

37
Q
  1. What is an example question about stateless systems?
A

Why are stateless APIs preferred in scalable architectures?

38
Q
  1. What are some techniques to reduce latency?
A

Use of CDNs

39
Q
  1. What is an example question about reducing latency?
A

How would you reduce latency for users globally?

40
Q
  1. What are some key metrics for monitoring scalability?
A

Latency

41
Q
  1. What are some tools for monitoring scalability?
A

Prometheus

42
Q
  1. What is an example question about monitoring a scaled-out system?
A

How would you monitor a scaled-out system?

43
Q
  1. What is a real-world example of scalability in an e-commerce website?
A

Traffic spikes during sales are handled using a load balancer

44
Q
  1. What is a real-world example of scalability in a video streaming platform?
A

Delivering content to millions of users globally is achieved by deploying CDNs

45
Q
  1. What is a real-world example of scalability in a social media platform?
A

Handling billions of posts and interactions daily is managed by employing data partitioning

46
Q
  1. What is a best practice for scalability?
A

Plan for growth by designing systems to handle 10x or 100x growth.

47
Q
  1. What is another best practice for scalability?
A

Automate scaling using auto-scaling features in cloud platforms to handle variable workloads.

48
Q
  1. What is another best practice for scalability?
A

Optimize resource utilization by avoiding over-provisioning resources and using monitoring to adjust capacity dynamically.

49
Q
  1. What is another best practice for scalability?
A

Test scalability by performing load testing to identify limits and bottlenecks.

50
Q
  1. What is the summary of scalability?
A

Scalability is a cornerstone of modern system design

System Design (5 decks)

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