Architecture & DesignIntermediate
Single Point of Failure
PronunciationSING-gul POYNT uv FAYL-yer
Definition
One component that, if it stops, takes the whole system down. Good design removes or duplicates it.
Where you hear it
Reliability reviews and architecture interviews ("SPOF").
Examples
One database server is a single point of failure.
We added a replica to remove the single point of failure.
Common mistake
Adding a second server but keeping one shared load balancer. The failure point just moved.
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