Building a Distributed Log from Scratch, Part 1: Storage Mechanics

Thu, 21 Dec 2017 15:54:17 -0600

The log is a totally-ordered, append-only data structure. It’s a powerful yet simple abstraction—a sequence of immutable events. It’s something that programmers have been using for a very long time, perhaps without even realizing it because it’s so simple. Whether it’s application logs, system logs, or access logs, logging is something every developer uses on a daily basis. Essentially, it’s a timestamp and an event, a when and a what, and typically appended to the end of a file. But when we generalize that pattern, we end up with something much more useful for a broad range of problems. It becomes more interesting when we look at the log not just as a system of record but a central piece in managing data and distributing it across the enterprise efficiently.

Zero-Copy on Brave New Geek

Building a Distributed Log from Scratch, Part 1: Storage Mechanics