Distributed Systems Glossary

Browse 4 distributed systems terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

4 Distributed Systems Terms

consensus mechanism
The algorithm by which a decentralized network agrees on the current state of the blockchain without a central authority. Common mechanisms include proof of...
replication lag
The delay between when data is written to a primary database and when it appears on its read replicas. Replication lag causes the classic 'write then...
sharding key
The column or value used to determine which shard (partition) of a distributed database stores a given row. Choosing the right sharding key is one of the most...
tail latency
The response time experienced by the slowest requests — typically measured at the 99th or 99.9th percentile (p99/p999). In distributed systems, tail latency is...

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