Distributed Systems

Learn about distributed systems.

Definition

“A distributed system is one in which the failure of a computer you didn’t even know existed can render your own computer unusable.” - Lamport (1987)

When an application uses all the CPU power of a node, and you cannot add more processors to your server or switch to a bigger server, you need a plan B.

The next step usually involves multiple servers, linked together via a network of some sort. That means the application starts to be distributed: running not only on one node but on multiple, connected, nodes.

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