Phase 1: The Hard Limits

Before we talk about microservices or sharding, we must understand the physical constraints of our universe. How fast can data move? How much can we store? These limits are non-negotiable.

speed

Latency vs Throughput

Module 01

The fundamental trade-off. Why low latency doesn't mean high speed, and how to optimize for each.

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lan

Networking for Architects

Module 02

TCP vs UDP, DNS resolution, and the journey of a request. What actually happens on the wire?

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hard_drive

Storage Primitives

Module 03

Disk vs Memory, Sequential vs Random Access. The physical limits of reading and writing data.

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calculate

Back-of-Envelope Math

Module 04

Estimating QPS, storage requirements, and bandwidth on the fly during interviews.

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verified

Reliability & Availability

Module 05

The 'Nines', SLAs, SLOs, and the paradox of high availability. How to build systems that don't die.

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unfold_more

Vertical vs Horizontal

Module 06

The limits of a single machine. Why and when you must move to a distributed cluster.

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route

The Request Journey

Module 07

An end-to-end walkthrough from DNS resolution to the database write. The lifetime of a request.

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warning

The 8 Fallacies

Module 08

The dangerous assumptions of distributed computing. What you don't know will break your system.

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