Sysiq - Learn System Design | System Architecture Platform

1

Foundations

Essential concepts to start your system design journey

1. Introduction to Scalability

Understanding what scalability means and why it matters

5 min

2. Performance vs Scalability

Learn the critical difference between these two concepts

5 min

3. Latency vs Throughput

Understanding response time vs processing capacity

5 min

4. Availability vs Consistency

The fundamental trade-off in distributed systems

5 min

2

Distributed Systems

Core principles of building distributed architectures

1. CAP Theorem

Consistency, Availability, Partition tolerance - pick two

6 min

2. Consistency Patterns

Weak, Eventual, and Strong consistency explained

3

Networking & DNS

How data flows across the internet

1. Domain Name System

How domain names get translated to IP addresses

5 min

2. Content Delivery Networks

Push CDNs, Pull CDNs, and edge caching strategies

4

Load Balancing

Distributing traffic efficiently across servers

1. Load Balancer Fundamentals

Active-passive, active-active configurations

5 min

2. Layer 4 vs Layer 7 Load Balancing

Transport layer vs application layer balancing

5

Application Architecture

Structuring your application for scale

1. Microservices

Breaking monoliths into independent services

5 min

2. Service Discovery

How services find and communicate with each other

6

Databases

Persistent storage strategies and patterns

1. Relational Databases (RDBMS)

SQL databases, ACID properties, and when to use them

5 min

2. Master-Slave & Master-Master Replication

Database replication strategies for high availability

7

NoSQL Databases

Non-relational database types and use cases

1. Key-Value Stores

Redis, DynamoDB, and simple key-value patterns

5 min

2. Document Stores

MongoDB, CouchDB, and document-oriented databases

8

Caching Strategies

Speed up your application with intelligent caching

1. Caching Fundamentals

Client, CDN, web server, database, and application caching

5 min

2. Caching Levels

Query level vs object level caching

9

Asynchronous Processing

Handling work outside the request-response cycle

1. Message Queues

RabbitMQ, SQS, and asynchronous messaging

5 min

2. Task Queues

Background job processing and workers

10

Security

Protecting your system from threats

1. Security Fundamentals

Authentication, authorization, encryption, and best practices

5 min

2. OAuth & SAML

Understanding single sign-on and delegated authorization

11

Advanced Storage & S3

Object storage, block storage, and distributed file systems

1. Object Storage (S3)

Architecture of Amazon S3, buckets, objects, and consistency models

20 min

2. Block vs File vs Object Storage

Choosing the right storage paradigm for your workloads

12

Event-Driven Architecture

Event sourcing, CQRS, and log-based message brokers

1. Apache Kafka

Append-only logs, consumer groups, and high-throughput streaming

18 min

2. Event Sourcing & CQRS

Storing state as a sequence of events and separating read/write models

13

Advanced Distributed Concepts

Consensus, hashing, and coordination in distributed clusters

1. Consistent Hashing

Minimizing key redistribution when adding or removing nodes

15 min

2. Consensus Algorithms (Raft/Paxos)

Leader election and managing state machine replication

14

Specialized Data Structures

Probabilistic and spatial data structures for high scale

1. Bloom Filters

Probabilistic testing of set membership to save database lookups

10 min

2. Count-Min / HyperLogLog

Estimating frequencies and cardinalities in huge data streams

15

Data Engineering

Processing massive datasets and analytics

1. MapReduce

Distributed batch processing fundamentals

15 min

2. Stream Processing

Real-time analytics with Flink and Spark Streaming

System Design Roadmap

Foundations

1. Introduction to Scalability

2. Performance vs Scalability

3. Latency vs Throughput

4. Availability vs Consistency

Distributed Systems

1. CAP Theorem

2. Consistency Patterns

Networking & DNS

1. Domain Name System

2. Content Delivery Networks

Load Balancing

1. Load Balancer Fundamentals

2. Layer 4 vs Layer 7 Load Balancing

Application Architecture

1. Microservices

2. Service Discovery

Databases

1. Relational Databases (RDBMS)

2. Master-Slave & Master-Master Replication

NoSQL Databases

1. Key-Value Stores

2. Document Stores

Caching Strategies

1. Caching Fundamentals

2. Caching Levels

Asynchronous Processing

1. Message Queues

2. Task Queues

Security

1. Security Fundamentals

2. OAuth & SAML

Advanced Storage & S3

1. Object Storage (S3)

2. Block vs File vs Object Storage

Event-Driven Architecture

1. Apache Kafka

2. Event Sourcing & CQRS

Advanced Distributed Concepts

1. Consistent Hashing

2. Consensus Algorithms (Raft/Paxos)

Specialized Data Structures

1. Bloom Filters

2. Count-Min / HyperLogLog

Data Engineering

1. MapReduce

2. Stream Processing

3. Availability Patterns

3. TCP vs UDP

3. Horizontal Scaling

4. Reverse Proxy

3. RPC vs REST

3. Federation

4. Sharding

5. Denormalization

6. SQL Tuning

3. Wide Column Stores

4. Graph Databases

5. SQL or NoSQL?

3. Cache Update Strategies

3. Back Pressure

3. Distributed File Systems (HDFS)

3. WebSockets & SSE

3. Gossip Protocol

4. Vector Clocks

3. Geohashing & Quadtrees

4. Rate Limiting Algorithms

3. Data Warehouses vs Lakes