Distributed Systems for practitioners
Distributed Systems for practitioners
About the Book
Distributed systems are everywhere nowadays, from the chat applications we use to communicate with our friends to the online stores we use for our shopping. However, distributed systems are by nature complicated. In order to design and build a distributed system that will work properly, one has to understand a lot of different concepts and nuances and the literature of distributed systems can be quite big and chaotic at times.
This book makes an effort to collate the basic principles, algorithms and protocols in the field of distributed systems. It introduces the basic problems that are inherent in distributed systems, the main approaches to tackle them and any associated complications one needs to keep in mind. You will have the chance to get an overview of the seminal papers in the field, while also understanding how the associated algorithms and protocols can be used in real life. As implied by the title, the goal of this book is to maintain a practical perspective, by explaining algorithms in the simplest terms possible and demonstrating how implementations of them can be used in real systems.
Who is this book for
This book is aimed at software engineers that have some experience in building software systems and have no or some experience in distributed systems. It assumes no knowledge around concepts and algorithms for distributed systems. This book attempts to gradually introduce the terms and explain the basic algorithms in the simplest way possible, providing many diagrams and examples. As a result, this book can also be useful to people that don't develop software, but want to get an introduction to the field of distributed systems.
Want to show some love?
If you have already read the book and you liked it, you can help other people find out about it in one of the following ways:
Packages
The Book
With this package you get a copy of the book, including any of its future updates.
English
PDF
EPUB
MOBI
The Book: 5 copies bundle
With this package you get 5 copies of the book, including any of its future updates.
English
PDF
EPUB
MOBI
The book: 10 copies bundle
With this package you get 10 copies of the book, including any of its future updates.
English
PDF
EPUB
MOBI
Reader Testimonials
Kumar Uttpal
SDE 2 at Amazon
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I liked the straight-to-the-point attitude of writing.
Kaviraj Kanagaraj
Software Engineer at HousingAnywhere
It's a really great book given its size. Great read for knowing key topics and concepts of distributed systems. The new section on Case Studies is top notch, I really wanted something like this and I am happy to see this.
Table of Contents
Introduction
What is a distributed system and why we need it
The fallacies of distributed computing
Why distributed systems are hard
Correctness in distributed systems
System models
The tale of exactly-once semantics
Failure in the world of distributed systems
Stateful and Stateless systems
Basic concepts and theorems
Partitioning
Algorithms for horizontal partitioning
Replication
Single-master replication
Multi-master replication
Quorums in distributed systems
Safety guarantees in distributed systems
ACID transactions
The CAP Theorem
Consistency models
Isolation Levels
Consistency and Isolation - Differences and Similarities
Why all the formalities
Distributed Transactions
What is a distributed transaction
Achieving Isolation
2-phase locking (2PL)
Optimistic concurrency control (OCC)
Multi-version concurrency control (MVCC)
Achieving atomicity
2-phase commit (2PC)
3-phase commit (3PC)
A quorum-based commit protocol
How it all fits together
Long-lived transactions & Sagas
Consensus
Defining consensus
Some use-cases of consensus
FLP impossibility
The Paxos algorithm
Intricacies of Paxos
Paxos in real-life
Replicated state machine via consensus
Distributed transactions via consensus
Raft
Standing on the shoulders of giants
Time
What is different in a distributed system
A practical perspective
A theoretical perspective
Logical clocks
Order
Total and partial ordering
The concept of causality
Lamport clocks
Vector clocks
Version vectors & Dotted version vectors
Distributed snapshots
Physical & Logical time: closing thoughts
Networking
The physical layer
The link layer
The network layer
The transport layer
The application layer
Taking a step back
Security
Authentication
Confidentiality
Integrity
A cryptography primer
Example protocols
Case studies
Distributed file systems (HDFS/GFS)
Distributed coordination service (Zookeeper/Chubby/etcd)
Distributed datastores
BigTable/HBase
Cassandra
Spanner
FaunaDB
Distributed messaging system (Kafka)
Distributed cluster management (Kubernetes)
Distributed ledger (Corda)
Distributed data processing systems
MapReduce
Apache Spark
Apache Flink
Practices & Patterns
Communication Patterns
Coordination Patterns
Data synchronisation
Shared-nothing architectures
Distributed locking
Compatibility patterns
Dealing with failure
Distributed tracing
Causes Supported

Code Club
https://www.codeclub.org.ukA nationwide network of volunteer-led after school coding clubs for children aged 9-11.
Authors have earned$9,893,383writing, publishing and selling on Leanpub, earning 80% royalties while saving up to 25 million pounds of CO2 and up to 46,000 trees.
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
The Leanpub 45-day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 45 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
See full terms
Free Updates. DRM Free.
If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).
Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers), EPUB (for phones and tablets) and MOBI (for Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.
Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.
Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them
Top Books
C++ Best Practices
Jason TurnerLevel up your C++, get the tools working for you, eliminate common problems, and move on to more exciting things!
OpenIntro Statistics
David Diez, Christopher Barr, Mine Cetinkaya-Rundel, and OpenIntroA complete foundation for Statistics, also serving as a foundation for Data Science.
Leanpub revenue supports OpenIntro (US-based nonprofit) so we can provide free desk copies to teachers interested in using OpenIntro Statistics in the classroom and expand the project to support free textbooks in other subjects.
More resources: openintro.org.
Functional Design and Architecture
Alexander GraninSoftware Design in Functional Programming, Design Patterns and Practices, Methodologies and Application Architectures. How to build real software in Haskell with less efforts and low risks. The first complete source of knowledge.
Atomic Kotlin
Bruce Eckel and Svetlana IsakovaFor both beginning and experienced programmers! From the author of the multi-award-winning Thinking in C++ and Thinking in Java together with a member of the Kotlin language team comes a book that breaks the concepts into small, easy-to-digest "atoms," along with exercises supported by hints and solutions directly inside IntelliJ IDEA!
C++20
Rainer GrimmC++20 is the next big C++ standard after C++11. As C++11 did it, C++20 changes the way we program modern C++. This change is, in particular, due to the big four of C++20: ranges, coroutines, concepts, and modules.
The book is almost daily updated. These incremental updates ease my interaction with the proofreaders.
Introductory Statistics with Randomization and Simulation
Mine Cetinkaya-Rundel, Christopher Barr, OpenIntro, and David DiezA complete foundation for Statistics, also serving as a foundation for Data Science, that introduces inference using randomization and simulation while covering traditional methods.
Leanpub revenue supports OpenIntro, so we can provide free desk copies to teachers interested in using our books in the classroom.
More resources: openintro.org.
Java OOP Done Right
Alan MellorObject Oriented Programming is still a great way to create clean, maintainable code. But only if you use it right.
This book gives you 25 years of OO best practice, ready to use.
You'll learn to design objects behaviour-first, use TDD to help, then confidently apply Design Patterns, SOLID principles and Refactoring to make clean, crafted code.
Ansible for DevOps
Jeff GeerlingAnsible is a simple, but powerful, server and configuration management tool. Learn to use Ansible effectively, whether you manage one server—or thousands.
Composing Software
Eric ElliottAll software design is composition: the act of breaking complex problems down into smaller problems and composing those solutions. Most developers have a limited understanding of compositional techniques. It's time for that to change.
Cloud Strategy
Gregor Hohpe“Strategy is the difference between making a wish and making it come true.” A successful migration to the cloud shouldn’t be driven by wishes, but guided by a sound strategy, frameworks, and decision models. This book tells you how—without becoming superficial nor getting lost in technology and product details.
Top Bundles
- #1
Software Architecture for Developers: Volumes 1 & 2 - Technical leadership and communication
2 Books
"Software Architecture for Developers" is a practical and pragmatic guide to modern, lightweight software architecture, specifically aimed at developers. You'll learn:The essence of software architecture.Why the software architecture role should include coding, coaching and collaboration.The things that you really need to think about before... - #2
CCIE Service Provider Ultimate Study Bundle
2 Books
Piotr Jablonski, Lukasz Bromirski, and Nick Russo have joined forces to deliver the only CCIE Service Provider training resource you'll ever need. This bundle contains a detailed and challenging collection of workbook labs, plus an extensively detailed technical reference guide. All of us have earned the CCIE Service Provider certification... - #3
Cisco CCNA 200-301 Complet
4 Books
Ce lot comprend les quatre volumes du guide préparation à l'examen de certification Cisco CCNA 200-301. - #4
CCDE Practical Studies (All labs)
3 Books
CCDE lab - #5
Modern Management Made Easy
3 Books
Read all three Modern Management Made Easy books. Learn to manage yourself, lead and serve others, and lead the organization. - #6
The Future of Digital Health
6 Books
We put together the most popular books from The Medical Futurist to provide a clear picture about the major trends shaping the future of medicine and healthcare. Digital health technologies, artificial intelligence, the future of 20 medical specialties, big pharma, data privacy and how technology giants such as Amazon or Google want to conquer... - #7
Modern C++ by Nicolai Josuttis
2 Books
- #8
Django for Beginners/APIs/Professionals
3 Books
- #9
"The C++ Standard Library" and "Concurrency with Modern C++"
2 Books
Get my books "The C++ Standard Library" and "Concurrency with Modern C++" in a bundle. The first book gives you the details you should know about the C++ standard library; the second one dives deeper into concurrency with modern C++. In sum, you get more than 600 pages full of modern C++ and about 250 source files presenting the standard library... - #10
Linux Administration Complet
4 Books
Ce lot comprend les quatre volumes du Guide Linux Administration :Linux Administration, Volume 1, Administration fondamentale : Guide pratique de préparation aux examens de certification LPIC 1, Linux Essentials, RHCSA et LFCS. Administration fondamentale. Introduction à Linux. Le Shell. Traitement du texte. Arborescence de fichiers. Sécurité...