Whether it’s the office, the classroom, the store or the bank, a great many spheres of human life have moved online. Each day, we grow more and more used to consuming applications on demand that instantly connect us with the rest of the world. Our expanding appetite for the internet depends on an ongoing trend toward distributed systems, with most companies today spreading their information technology across hybrid and multi-cloud architectures that consist of small, independent and loosely coupled containers. Companies are scaling their applications by deploying more clusters of containers across an ever-broadening surface. There are four key lessons businesses can observe from the proliferation of distributed systems.
Don’t Underestimate the Benefits of Distributed Systems
There’s a reason why the trend toward distributed systems persists; they are chock full of benefits.
Distributed systems are incredibly scalable, as they allow companies to scale applications by adding, replacing or removing nodes as necessary. New applications can be rolled out quickly and in multiple iterations, accelerating time-to-market. Codebases are smaller and easier to change. Distributed systems optimize developer efficiency and team collaboration because numerous teams can work on different parts of a system simultaneously.
Distributed systems are highly resilient. When (and only when) built effectively, distributed systems will continue working even if a significant part shuts down, as traffic can be rerouted to functioning servers—just look at the resilience of the internet. Fewer single points of failure create more stability and fault tolerance.
With so many benefits, it’s not difficult to see how distributed systems have enabled our connected, digital economy. Netflix is a prime example of how they have supported the growth of SaaS-based applications. Thanks to a complicated distributed system, anyone on Earth can access a massive library of movies, tv shows, and documentaries to stream whatever they want on demand, paying a monthly subscription.
While Netflix is considered to be in the entertainment industry, we think of it as a technology company first and foremost because the success of its business model is based on the efficacy of its distributed system. Netflix’s platform is scalable, resilient, performant, efficient and therefore profitable because it is distributed.
Know That Distributed Systems are Complex and Challenging
Distributed systems are innately complex and therefore difficult to build and operate. They consist of many asynchronous components that must work in tandem with one another. As the system scales, it becomes even more challenging to understand, let alone operate.
These challenges are hardly unique to Netflix. Any company that manages a distributed system at scale suffers because of the convoluted nature of distributed systems. Other internet giants like Spotify, YouTube and Twitter also grapple with compounding complexity. If you’re overwhelmed by the labyrinth that is your distributed system, take comfort in knowing that these challenges are (to an extent) unavoidable.
Turn Networking to Your Advantage
A distributed system is a set of computers, containers or any other nodes that connect to a network to communicate with other entities by passing messages. What truly allows distributed systems to be ‘distributed’ and to function is the network. This makes the network both a liability and an opportunity. Yes, even the best systems will fail at some point on various levels. There is no such thing as complete control in distributed systems, but that doesn’t mean you can’t turn networking to your advantage.
Developers can efficiently manage their distributed system by prioritizing networking and employing the right tools across an architecture. Netflix has built exceptionally well-connected systems with servers deployed in thousands of locations worldwide that connect to the control plane in the cloud. If a server fails, traffic can easily be rerouted elsewhere. The distributed system is scalable, resilient, performant and efficient. Robust networking solutions give the team at Netflix visibility into and control over the application.
Networking truly is the key to bolstering the advantages and overcoming the challenges of distributed systems. Invest resources in your network and it will take care of your distributed system.
Aim for Simplicity
Turn networking to your advantage by taking care when building a networking stack. The two most predictable pitfalls to avoid here are not choosing a stack that addresses your unique challenges and differentiators and selecting tools that are overly complicated for your use case.
It’s all too common for companies building and managing distributed systems to adopt popular or default tools that come with their orchestration platform without giving their suitability much thought. It is never a good idea to copy-paste a networking stack seen elsewhere, assuming that what has worked for others will also work for you. It may, but do not blindly select the stacks everyone is talking about without giving them much thought.
Many organizations followed the herd by adopting Istio, only to later discover that the service mesh is far too complicated and resource-intensive for their platform. While Istio’s numerous features are helpful for some, they quickly become burdensome. The trending tools are not necessarily the best for your use case.
Some companies go the opposite route and build their own custom solutions instead of following the herd. Just as Netflix built Zookeeper for service discovery and Spotify built Backstage for API management cataloging, global companies with expansive distributed systems can benefit from the control offered by a custom tool. This option is expensive, time-consuming and not viable for non-tech or smaller companies.
You’re (probably) not Netflix, so don’t try to be. You may think you have the same problems, but you don’t. Yes, distributed systems are always complex and full of challenges. But the complexity of distributed systems compounds at scale to such an extent that it becomes incomparable. Internet giants like Netflix and Spotify require the advanced features of complicated tools or custom solutions built in-house (and they have the means to invest in these resources). If your platform is a fraction of the size of Netflix’s, your distributed system relies on a far simpler network.
It’s extremely easy to choose solutions that are overly engineered for your use case, but it’s best to opt for simpler alternatives. Start with simple solutions, gain control of your networking stack and then advance to another level of complexity later on. Gaining control of your network will allow you to tap into the benefits of distributed systems while avoiding some of the challenges. Turn networking to your advantage and make your infrastructure scalable by choosing simplicity over complexity.
