System Architecture Basics Quiz

Horizontal scaling refers to the process of adding more machines or servers to handle increased load, rather than enhancing the capabilities of a single server. This approach allows for better distribution of tasks and resources, improving performance and reliability by spreading the workload across multiple systems.

Microservices architecture separates data storage from data processing by dividing applications into smaller, independent services. Each service can manage its own data storage, allowing for flexibility and scalability. This separation enables teams to develop, deploy, and scale services independently, enhancing overall system resilience and efficiency compared to monolithic architectures, where data handling is tightly coupled with processing.

CAP theorem states that in a distributed system, it is impossible to simultaneously achieve all three properties: Consistency, Availability, and Partition tolerance. When a network partition occurs, a system can only guarantee two of these properties at any given time, leading to trade-offs based on the specific requirements of the application.

A load balancer efficiently manages incoming requests by distributing them across multiple servers. This ensures that no single server becomes overwhelmed with too much traffic, enhancing performance and reliability. By balancing the load, it optimizes resource usage, reduces response times, and improves overall system availability.

Caching is implemented in system design to store frequently accessed data temporarily, which allows for quicker retrieval. This reduces the time it takes to access data, thereby lowering latency, and also decreases the load on databases, enhancing overall system performance and efficiency.

Microservices architecture allows each service to be scaled independently, optimizing resource usage and performance. Additionally, it supports technology diversity, enabling teams to choose the best tools and languages for specific services, enhancing flexibility and innovation. These benefits contribute to a more resilient and adaptable system overall.

Database replication ensures redundancy by creating multiple copies of data across different servers. This practice enhances data availability and reliability, allowing systems to continue functioning even if one server fails. By having redundant data, organizations can safeguard against data loss and improve overall system resilience.

In system design, a bottleneck refers to a specific component or resource that restricts the overall performance and efficiency of the system. When this component cannot handle the workload effectively, it slows down the entire system, resulting in decreased performance and responsiveness. Identifying and addressing bottlenecks is crucial for optimizing system performance.

Asynchronous processing enhances system responsiveness by decoupling tasks from the main request flow. This means that time-consuming operations can be handled independently, allowing the system to continue processing other requests without waiting for those tasks to complete. This leads to a more efficient and responsive user experience.

Redundancy with failover mechanisms ensures that if one component fails, another can take over, maintaining system availability. This architecture minimizes downtime and enhances reliability by distributing workloads across multiple servers, allowing continuous operation even during individual server failures, making it ideal for high-availability requirements.

Eventual consistency is a model in distributed systems where updates to data will propagate and become consistent across all nodes over time, rather than immediately. This allows for higher availability and performance, as temporary inconsistencies are tolerated, with the assurance that all nodes will eventually reflect the same data state.

A proxy acts as an intermediary between clients and servers, handling requests and responses. It can enhance security, improve performance through caching, and enable load balancing. By managing connections, a proxy helps optimize communication and can also provide anonymity for clients accessing resources on the internet.