Distributed systems differ not only in what they store but in how they order events. Every read, write, and replica update follows an underlying ordering guarantee, a rule defining how operations appear across replicas. As these guarantees strengthen, systems exchange availability and latency for stronger forms of consistency. Every distributed…
When working with distributed systems, it’s easy to confuse Total Order Broadcast (TOB) and Linearizability. After all, both seem to talk about order. However each serve different purposes and operate at different layers of a system’s design. Let's unpack! If every replica delivers the same messages…
Modern distributed systems are built from many moving parts - databases, services, queues, caches, and schedulers - all operating concurrently and often out of sync. The only reason this doesn’t collapse into chaos is coordination. Coordination is how independent components stay aligned - who leads, who follows, who owns…
Consensus is what turns a collection of replicas into a single, coherent truth. But it’s also what slows that truth down. The scope of Consensus must be chosen carefully, because it comes with a cost. Without restraint, no system can remain both available and performant. When correctness depends on…
Consensus is what prevents distributed systems from fracturing into multiple, conflicting realities. It ensures not just that replicas hold the same data, but in the same order, under the same history. This requires more than copying data between nodes. It requires coordination. It requires leadership. In consensus protocols like Raft,…