SYSTEM DESIGNDesign a Distributed Message Queue (Kafka)LinkedInConfluentAmazon
TRAFFIC LEVEL
—/3
CONSTRAINTS
Write throughput1M messages/sec
Avg message size1 KB
Write bandwidth~1 GB/sec
Retention7 days
Storage needed~600 TB
Compute & Network
Load BalancerDistribute traffic
API GatewayEntry point / auth
API ServerBusiness logic
Worker NodeAsync processing
CDN EdgeGlobal cache
WebSocket GatewayPersistent connections
Data Stores
PostgreSQLRelational DB
MySQLRelational DB
CassandraWide-Column DB
DynamoDBNoSQL / Managed
S3 BucketObject storage
Queues & Cache
Redis CacheIn-memory store
KafkaEvent stream
ZookeeperCoordination
Specialized
Bloom FilterProbabilistic set
Rate LimiterThrottling
Geohash ServiceGeospatial index
Trie ServerPrefix search
APNS / FCMPush notifications
AggregatorBatch / roll-up
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🚨 INCIDENT
LinkedInConfluentAmazon

Design a durable, distributed message queue that supports 1M messages/sec write throughput, at-least-once delivery guarantees, consumer groups with offset tracking, and message retention for 7 days.

📥 Assigned to:You — Senior Engineer
SCALE LEVELS
1
10,000 RPS
Target: <10ms
2
100,000 RPS
Target: <30ms
3
1,000,000 RPS
Target: <20ms
GLOBAL SUCCESS RATE
100.0%
P99 LATENCY
45ms
Target: < 200ms
TOTAL RPS INGESTED0 / 11,000
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