Read Scaling Decisions
When To Apply
Use read-heavy APIs
High-volume external endpoints where many users repeatedly read the same data.
Avoid low-read cases
Write-heavy 2:1 or 1:1 workloads and 1000-user apps do not need complex read scaling.
Check consistency needs
Financial, inventory, and real-time collaboration may reject stale cached reads.
Scaling Progression
1
Optimize inside the DB
Add indexes, tune data model, and denormalize before adding infrastructure.
2
Scale the DB horizontally
Add read replicas or shard when one database server hits limits.
3
Add external caches
Use application caches or CDNs when repeated reads dominate.
Key Numbers
Database Optimization
Horizontal Scaling
Cache Strategy
Cache Layers
Invalidation Choices
Failure Modes
Hot Key Fixes
Stampede Fixes
Interview Scenarios
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