Distributed System

A system whose components are located on different networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages.

A distributed system is a collection of independent computers or processes that appear to users as a single coherent system. Components communicate over a network by passing messages, and they coordinate to achieve a common goal. Examples include distributed databases, content delivery networks, and microservices architectures.

Distributed systems introduce challenges not present in single-machine systems, including network partitions, variable latency, partial failures, and the need for consensus protocols. The CAP theorem states that a distributed system can provide at most two of three guarantees: consistency, availability, and partition tolerance.

API gateways and serverless platforms are inherently distributed systems. An edge-deployed API gateway runs across many geographic locations, routing and processing requests at the node closest to the user. This distribution improves latency and availability but requires careful handling of configuration propagation, state management, and eventual consistency across nodes.