Semicolony ELI5 · comic

Replication.

Keeping copies of your data on several machines, so a failure or a far-away reader is no big deal.

  1. the only ledger it dies all gone
    1

    One ledger on one machine is a single point of failure — lose it and everything is gone.

  2. a copy in every branch
    2

    So you photocopy it, keeping a copy in every branch office.

  3. Record it here.
    write leader
    3

    Writes go to one leader copy that owns the latest truth.

  4. leader change log followers
    4

    The leader streams its change log out so every follower stays in sync.

  5. read any copy
    5

    Reads can come from any copy, spreading the load and serving nearby readers fast.

  6. #9leader #8follower a little behind
    6

    The catch is lag: a follower is always a little behind, so it can briefly show stale data.

Keep synced photocopies of the ledger in every branch; writes lead, reads spread out.
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