{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Organization", "name": "Brainscape", "url": "https://www.brainscape.com/", "logo": "https://www.brainscape.com/pks/images/cms/public-views/shared/Brainscape-logo-c4e172b280b4616f7fda.svg", "sameAs": [ "https://www.facebook.com/Brainscape", "https://x.com/brainscape", "https://www.linkedin.com/company/brainscape", "https://www.instagram.com/brainscape/", "https://www.tiktok.com/@brainscapeu", "https://www.pinterest.com/brainscape/", "https://www.youtube.com/@BrainscapeNY" ], "contactPoint": { "@type": "ContactPoint", "telephone": "(929) 334-4005", "contactType": "customer service", "availableLanguage": ["English"] }, "founder": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Andrew Cohen" }, "description": "Brainscape’s spaced repetition system is proven to DOUBLE learning results! Find, make, and study flashcards online or in our mobile app. Serious learners only.", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "159 W 25th St, Ste 517", "addressLocality": "New York", "addressRegion": "NY", "postalCode": "10001", "addressCountry": "USA" } }
Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

System Design > Scaling > Flashcards

Scaling Flashcards

(50 cards)

Start Studying
1
Q
  1. What is scalability?
A

Scalability refers to the ability of a system

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q
  1. What are the two types of scalability?
A

Vertical Scalability (Scaling Up) and Horizontal Scalability (Scaling Out).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q
  1. What is Vertical Scalability?
A

Vertical Scalability involves adding more resources (CPU

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q
  1. What is an example of Vertical Scalability?
A

Upgrading a database server from 16GB to 64GB of RAM.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q
  1. What are the pros of Vertical Scalability?
A

Simple to implement and no changes to the application code.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q
  1. What are the cons of Vertical Scalability?
A

Limited by the hardware capacity of a single machine and can become expensive.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q
  1. What is Horizontal Scalability?
A

Horizontal Scalability involves adding more machines (or nodes) to distribute the load.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q
  1. What is an example of Horizontal Scalability?
A

Adding multiple servers to handle web traffic.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q
  1. What are the pros of Horizontal Scalability?
A

Practically unlimited scalability and high fault tolerance.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q
  1. What are the cons of Horizontal Scalability?
A

More complex to implement and requires distributed system design.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q
  1. What are the three dimensions of scalability?
A

Performance Scalability

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q
  1. What is Performance Scalability?
A

The ability to improve response times under increased load.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q
  1. What is Capacity Scalability?
A

The ability to handle a higher volume of users

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q
  1. What is Geographic Scalability?
A

The ability to maintain performance across geographically dispersed locations.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q
  1. What is Load Balancing?
A

Load Balancing distributes incoming requests across multiple servers to balance the load and improve performance.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q
  1. What is an example of Load Balancing?
A

A website uses a load balancer to distribute traffic across 5 backend servers.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q
  1. What is Caching?
A

Caching temporarily stores frequently accessed data in a faster storage layer to reduce the load on backend systems.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q
  1. What is an example of Caching?
A

Using a Redis or Memcached server to store session data.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q
  1. What is Database Sharding?
A

Database Sharding divides a database into smaller

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q
  1. What is an example of Database Sharding?
A

A large e-commerce platform shards its database by customer region.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q
  1. What is Data Replication?
Study These Flashcards
A

Data Replication creates multiple copies of the same data to improve availability and read performance.

22
Q
  1. What is an example of Data Replication?
Study These Flashcards
A

A primary database replicates its data to a read-only replica for analytical queries.

23
Q
  1. What is Partitioning?
Study These Flashcards
A

Partitioning divides datasets into smaller

24
Q
  1. What is an example of Partitioning?
Study These Flashcards
A

Log files are partitioned by time periods (e.g.

25
25. What is a common scalability challenge related to bottlenecks?
A single slow component in the system (e.g.
26
26. What is the solution to bottlenecks?
Identify and optimize bottlenecks using profiling tools.
27
27. What is the CAP Theorem?
The CAP Theorem states that in distributed systems
28
28. What is a solution to the CAP Theorem challenge?
Choose the right trade-off based on system requirements.
29
29. What is a common challenge in distributed systems?
Adding nodes and designing for distributed systems increases architectural complexity.
30
30. What is a solution to distributed system complexity?
Use proven design patterns and tools like Kubernetes for orchestration.
31
31. What is the difference between Scalability and Performance?
Scalability is the system’s ability to grow
32
32. What are some Load Balancing Algorithms?
Round Robin
33
33. What is an example question about Load Balancing Algorithms?
Explain how a least-connections algorithm works.
34
34. What are some techniques to scale a relational database?
Vertical vs. Horizontal database scaling
35
35. What is an example question about scaling a relational database?
How would you scale a relational database to handle 10x traffic?
36
36. Why are stateless systems easier to scale?
Stateless systems are easier to scale as they don’t maintain session state.
37
37. What is an example question about stateless systems?
Why are stateless APIs preferred in scalable architectures?
38
38. What are some techniques to reduce latency?
Use of CDNs
39
39. What is an example question about reducing latency?
How would you reduce latency for users globally?
40
40. What are some key metrics for monitoring scalability?
Latency
41
41. What are some tools for monitoring scalability?
Prometheus
42
42. What is an example question about monitoring a scaled-out system?
How would you monitor a scaled-out system?
43
43. What is a real-world example of scalability in an e-commerce website?
Traffic spikes during sales are handled using a load balancer
44
44. What is a real-world example of scalability in a video streaming platform?
Delivering content to millions of users globally is achieved by deploying CDNs
45
45. What is a real-world example of scalability in a social media platform?
Handling billions of posts and interactions daily is managed by employing data partitioning
46
46. What is a best practice for scalability?
Plan for growth by designing systems to handle 10x or 100x growth.
47
47. What is another best practice for scalability?
Automate scaling using auto-scaling features in cloud platforms to handle variable workloads.
48
48. What is another best practice for scalability?
Optimize resource utilization by avoiding over-provisioning resources and using monitoring to adjust capacity dynamically.
49
49. What is another best practice for scalability?
Test scalability by performing load testing to identify limits and bottlenecks.
50
50. What is the summary of scalability?
Scalability is a cornerstone of modern system design

System Design (8 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions