The following links are placeholders for further research and learning.
| Term | Short Definition | Link |
|---|---|---|
| CAP Theorem | Tradeoff between Consistency, Availability, and Partition Tolerance | CAP Theorem |
| Consensus | Agreement among distributed nodes on a single value or sequence | Consensus Algorithms |
| Paxos | A family of protocols for consensus under crash failure | Paxos |
| Raft | Readable consensus algorithm used in many systems | Raft |
| Quorum | Minimum number of nodes agreeing for a decision | Quorums |
| Vector Clock | Data structure tracking causality among events | Vector Clocks |
| Gossip Protocol | Peer-to-peer state dissemination protocol | Gossip Protocols |
| 2PC | Protocol for distributed transactions with a coordinator | Two-Phase Commit (2PC) |
| 3PC | Non-blocking extension of 2PC | Three-Phase Commit (3PC) |
| Saga | Pattern for breaking long transactions into local + compensating actions | Saga Pattern |
| Leader Election | Protocol to dynamically choose a coordinator | Leader Election |
| Eventual Consistency | Guarantees all replicas converge eventually | Eventual Consistency |
| State Machine Replication | Replicating deterministic services across nodes | State Machine Replication |
| Partial Failure | Some components fail while others operate correctly | Partial Failure |
| Split-Brain | Cluster splits and both sides believe they’re the leader | Split-Brain Scenarios |
| Network Partition | Loss of communication between parts of the system | Network Partition |
| Fault Tolerance | System continues to operate under failure | Fault Tolerance |
| Distributed Lock | Mechanism to ensure exclusive access to resources | Distributed Locking |
| Heartbeat | Periodic message used to detect node liveness | Failure Detectors |
| Idempotency | Operation can be repeated safely | Idempotency |