Distributed systems present unique challenges that require thoughtful application of proven design patterns to achieve reliability, scalability, and maintainability. Unlike monolithic applications where components communicate through in-process method calls, distributed systems must handle network partitions, variable latency, and partial failures as fundamental aspects of their operation. The patterns that emerge from these constraints form the foundation of robust cloud architectures, particularly when implemented using AWS’s managed services ecosystem.

🔍

The Circuit Breaker pattern addresses one of the most common failure modes in distributed systems: cascading failures caused by unhealthy dependencies. When a downstream service becomes unresponsive, continuing to send requests not only wastes resources but can propagate the failure upstream. A circuit breaker monitors failure rates and response times, automatically switching to an open state when thresholds are exceeded. AWS Application Load Balancer’s health checking mechanisms provide a managed implementation of this pattern, automatically removing unhealthy targets from rotation and gradually reintroducing them as they recover.