Answer Key: Load Shedding & Circuit Breakers

Back to Exercises

---

Exercise 1: Design Load Shedding

Question: Design a load shedding strategy. What requests do you shed?

Answer

Load Shedding Strategy: - Priority-based: Shed low-priority requests first - Rate-based: Limit request rate, drop excess - Queue-based: Drop when queue full - Protect critical: Always process high-priority requests

Answer: Priority-based shedding, protect critical requests, drop low-priority when overloaded.

---

Exercise 2: Configure Circuit Breaker

Question: Configure a circuit breaker. What are the thresholds?

Answer

Circuit Breaker Configuration: - Error threshold: 50% errors - Latency threshold: P95 > 1 second - Timeout: 30 seconds - Recovery: 5 successes to close

Answer: 50% error threshold, P95 latency threshold, 30s timeout, 5 successes to recover.

---

Exercise 3: Handle Overload

Question: Your system is overloaded. How do you handle it?

Answer

Overload Response: 1. Shed load: Enable load shedding 2. Circuit breakers: Open circuit breakers to failing services 3. Scale: Scale up resources 4. Monitor: Monitor and adjust

Answer: Enable load shedding, open circuit breakers, scale resources, monitor closely.