Reliability

Communication Protocols You Need to Know Protocols are the rules that let devices talk. They describe how data is packaged, when to send it, how to confirm it arrived, and how to keep it safe. Without clear protocols, a web page, an app, or a smart device would fail to cooperate. What is a protocol? A protocol is a formal agreement. It defines how to start a conversation, what to send, how to acknowledge receipt, and what to do when errors occur. It also sets limits on message size and timing, so conversations stay orderly. ...

Performance Testing for Scalable Systems As systems grow, performance testing helps teams verify that an app can handle more users without failing. It measures speed, reliability, and how resources are used. When a service scales, bottlenecks can hide under normal load and appear only under peak traffic. A simple load test is useful, but a complete plan covers patterns you expect in real life and some worst cases. Why test for scalability Testing for scalability means setting clear goals. Decide acceptable latency, error rate, and resource limits. Then design tests that mirror how people use the product—browsing sessions, search, checkout, or API calls. This helps you see not just fast responses, but how the system behaves when many tasks run at once. ...

SRE vs DevOps: What’s the Difference SRE and DevOps are common terms in tech teams. They both aim to ship software faster and with fewer problems. Yet they come from different ideas. SRE treats reliability as a product feature and uses engineering and data to improve it. DevOps emphasizes culture and collaboration, and it helps teams push code from idea to live service. Understanding the difference helps teams pick the right practices without slowing down delivery. ...

API Design Principles for Global APIs Global APIs reach users across many regions, languages, and networks. To deliver a reliable experience, design must reduce latency, respect data rules, and stay predictable even when regional conditions vary. Clear contracts are the foundation. Design the surface early, version carefully, and document error formats so clients can handle failures gracefully. Use stable paths, predictable status codes, and backward-compatible changes whenever possible. Make data locale aware. Represent times in UTC ISO 8601 and surface localized formats only when requested. Read Accept-Language and, if possible, return translated messages. Use currency codes (ISO 4217) and SI units to avoid confusion across regions. ...

Distributed Systems Principles for Scalable Apps Distributed systems are the backbone of modern apps that run across many machines. They help us serve more users, store more data, and react quickly to changes. But they also add complexity. This article highlights practical principles to keep services scalable and reliable. Data distribution and consistency Data is often spread across servers. Partitioning, or sharding, places different keys on different machines so traffic stays even. Replication creates copies to improve availability and read performance. The right mix matters: strong consistency for critical records like payments, and eventual consistency for searchable or cached data where small delays are acceptable. ...

Streaming Infrastructure: Scaling to Millions of Viewers Streaming at scale means separating the fast path of delivery from the heavier work of encoding and storage. A reliable system uses layers: an ingest/origin layer, a caching layer via a content delivery network, and optional edge processing. With millions of viewers, latency and buffering become critical. Start with reliability: choose a robust origin, implement health checks, and keep the delivery path simple for most requests. Use adaptive bitrate (ABR) so players can switch quality as bandwidth changes. ...

Designing APIs for Global Reach and Developer Experience Designing APIs for global reach means more than building fast servers. It requires a clear contract, predictable behavior, and tooling that developers can trust wherever they are. A good API helps teams move quickly, without guessing what the service will do next. When resources are used by people in many regions, small choices add up to big improvements in adoption and reliability. ...

Communication Protocols: The Language of Computer Networks Protocols are the rules that let devices share information. They tell computers how to speak, when to send, and how to check that messages arrived correctly. Without protocols, networks would resemble a crowd with no common language. Clear rules help people and machines cooperate across distances. In practice, we use several models. The OSI model is a teaching tool with seven layers, but real networks follow a simpler flow: link, internet, transport, and application. Each layer has a job. Some layers move data, others add checks, and some keep applications talking in a predictable way. ...

APIs and Middleware: Designing Integrations that Scale APIs and middleware are the wiring of modern software. They let services talk, data flow, and features scale for many users around the world. Designing for growth means more than clean code; it means stable contracts, resilient paths, and clear responsibilities between teams. Think of your system as a network of partners. Each API has a well-defined contract. Middleware acts as the safe handoff between services, transforming data, enforcing rules, and guarding against overload. When integrations scale, reliability and speed depend on shared patterns rather than magic. ...

Kubernetes and Beyond: Orchestrating Cloud-Native Apps Kubernetes is the current standard for running cloud-native apps. It helps teams deploy, scale, and manage containers across many machines. With declarative configuration, you describe the desired state and the system makes it real. This keeps deployments repeatable and reduces human error. At its core, Kubernetes groups containers into pods, manages networking, storage, and health checks, and offers features like rolling updates and horizontal auto-scaling. Teams gain speed, but also need discipline around configuration, access, and costs. ...