Problems / Scaling, easy

CPU-bound API

The API renders pages on the server: 6 ms of CPU per request on 2 vCPUs per replica, at 1,500 req/s.

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Your goals

Success ≥ 99%, p99 ≤ 500 ms. Don’t let the API crash.

The traffic

1,500 requests a second for 30 seconds: 90% reads, 10% writes.

The system

What each component does in this design, and what calls it. The simulator mimics each one from these settings.

ComponentIts job hereSettings
Load balancerLoad balancerTraffic enters here.Calls API.Layer 4 balancers route by IP and port; layer 7 balancers read HTTP and can route by path or header.–
APIApp serviceLoad balancer forwards to it.Calls Redis cache (checked first), Postgres.Little's law: throughput ≈ concurrency ÷ latency. 200 slots at 50 ms serve about 4,000 req/s.3 replicas × 200 slots · timeout 1.0 s
Redis cacheCacheAPI checks it first for reads.An in-memory cache like Redis usually answers in well under a millisecond inside one region.95% hit rate
PostgresSQL databaseAPI reads it when Redis cache misses. API calls it for writes.Postgres runs one process per connection, which is why poolers like PgBouncer sit in front of busy databases.8 vCPU · 60 connections

Hints

Try it first. Open one hint at a time if you get stuck.

Hint 1

Check the API’s CPU, not its slots.

Hint 2

CPU needed = rate × CPU time per request.

One way to solve it

1,500 × 6 ms = 9 vCPUs busy; give it at least 6–8 replicas (or more vCPU each).

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