Tutorials System Design Tutorial
Distributed Systems Basics — Complete Guide
Distributed Systems Basics — Complete Guide: free step-by-step lesson with examples, common mistakes, and interview tips — part of System Design Tutorial on Toolliyo Academy.
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System Design Tutorial · Lesson 4 of 100
Distributed Systems Basics
Basics → Scale → Interview
Basics · 1 — Building blocks · ~6 min · Module 1: System Design Foundations
What is this?
A distributed system runs on multiple machines that coordinate over the network. Failures, delays, and partial outages are normal — not rare bugs.
Why should you care?
ShopNest order, payment, and inventory services sit on different nodes. You must design for “payment succeeded, inventory timed out.”
See it live — copy this example
Sketch the architecture on paper. These lessons focus on concepts and trade-offs.
ShopNest nodes:
[Order API] --network--> [Payment]
| |
+--------> [Inventory] <+
Failure mode: Payment OK, Inventory timeout → need retry/compensationRun Example »
This lesson uses terminal or setup steps. Run commands on your computer — the live editor appears on coding lessons.
What happened?
- The network is unreliable compared to an in-process function call.
- Timeouts, retries, and idempotency become part of the design, not afterthoughts.
Practice next
- Split ShopNest into three services on paper.
- Mark one network hop that can time out.
- Decide: retry, compensate, or mark order pending.
- Add a queue between Order and Inventory.
- Write what the user sees if Payment is down.
Remember
Multiple machines = partial failures. Design timeouts and retries. Idempotency protects double charges.
Partial checkout failure
Inventory service blips during ShopNest sale.
Outcome: Orders stay pending and reconcile instead of double-booking stock.
Interview prep for this lesson
Practice these questions aloud after reading—each links to a full structured answer.
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