Multi Step Processes hard
You have 1,000 workers pulling from a queue. They call a 3rd party API with a rate limit of 500 req/sec total. How do you enforce this limit without a central coordinator bottleneck?
- A Hardcode '0.5 req/sec' per worker.
- B Token Bucket algorithm in a shared Redis instance.
- C Use a Distributed Leaky Bucket.
- D Reduce the number of workers to a static number (e.g., 50) where their combined max throughput cannot exceed the limit.
Answer: D. Reduce the number of workers to a static number (e.g., 50) where their combined max throughput cannot exceed the limit.
While Redis (B) works, it adds latency and a failure point. A mathematical approach (Partitioning the limit) is often more robust. If you have 50 workers, and each is capped at 10 req/s locally, you verify the global max of 500 without network coordination.
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