Section C — Advanced Distributed Systems
Topics 201–320: Master impossibility results, advanced consensus, CRDT internals, distributed transactions, and production-grade replication strategies.
Prerequisites
This section builds on the fundamentals, consensus, replication, and partitioning sections. Ensure you’re comfortable with:
- FLP impossibility and CAP theorem
- Paxos and Raft
- CRDT basics and vector clocks
- Consistent hashing and quorum replication
Topic Map
graph LR
subgraph Impossibility & Models
IM[impossibility-models]
end
subgraph Clocks & Ordering
CO[clocks-ordering]
end
subgraph Quorums
QS[quorum-systems]
end
subgraph CRDTs
CD[crdt-deep]
end
subgraph Snapshots & Coordination
DS[distributed-snapshots]
end
subgraph Consensus
CA[consensus-advanced]
end
subgraph Replication
RA[replication-advanced]
end
subgraph Membership
MH[membership-hashing]
end
subgraph Transactions
DT[distributed-transactions]
end
IM --> QS
IM --> CA
CO --> CD
CO --> DS
QS --> RA
CA --> RA
MH --> RA
DT --> CA
Reading Order
| Order | File | Core Focus | Depends On |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | impossibility-models.md | FLP deep dive, failure models, system synchrony | Fundamentals |
| 2 | quorum-systems.md | Weighted/Byzantine quorums, intersection properties | Impossibility models |
| 3 | clocks-ordering.md | Advanced clocks, consistency models, TrueTime | Fundamentals |
| 4 | crdt-deep.md | State/op/delta CRDTs, garbage collection | Clocks & ordering |
| 5 | distributed-snapshots.md | Chandy-Lamport, mutual exclusion, termination | Clocks & ordering |
| 6 | consensus-advanced.md | Multi-Raft, HotStuff, EPaxos, pipelining | Quorums, snapshots |
| 7 | replication-advanced.md | CRAQ, Merkle sync, hinted handoff, sloppy quorum | Consensus advanced |
| 8 | membership-hashing.md | Hashing variants, SWIM, fencing, Redlock | Replication advanced |
| 9 | distributed-transactions.md | 2PC/3PC, Saga, outbox, exactly-once | Consensus, replication |
Quick Comparison: What Makes This Section Different
| Aspect | Fundamentals Section | This Section |
|---|---|---|
| FLP | Statement & intuition | Proof sketch, partial sync escape, failure detector classes |
| Consistency | Definitions | TrueTime/Spanner, hybrid logical clocks, convergence proofs |
| CRDTs | G-Counter, LWW-Register | Delta-state CRDTs, op-based causality, GC strategies |
| Consensus | Raft/Paxos basics | Multi-Raft, HotStuff BFT, EPaxos, pipelining, RDMA |
| Replication | Primary-backup, chain | CRAQ, Merkle-tree anti-entropy, sloppy quorum, witness replicas |
| Hashing | Consistent hashing basics | Rendezvous/jump hashing, SWIM, lease-based fencing |