Why are global secondary indexes hard in sharded systems?

Problem Statement

Explanation

A single logical index may receive updates from many data shards, creating skew and coordination cost. Maintaining global order and atomicity is complex. Common mitigations: local per-shard indexes plus scatter-gather reads, or an async global index with eventual consistency.

Code Solution

SolutionRead Only

email→user_id index shard must absorb writes from all user shards

Practice Sets

This question appears in the following practice sets:

Database Sharding & Partitioning

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Why are global secondary indexes hard in sharded systems?

Problem Statement

Explanation

Code Solution

Practice Sets

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Master Interviews Anywhere, Anytime

Why are global secondary indexes hard in sharded systems?

Problem Statement

Explanation

Code Solution

Practice Sets

Related Questions

Which statement best describes the Single Responsibility Principle?

Open–Closed Principle encourages what practice when adding features?

High-Level Design (HLD) typically focuses on which artifacts?

Which UML diagram best captures interactions over time between components?

Which pairing describes a healthy design goal?

More from System Design

Master Interviews
Anywhere, Anytime