Design a low-latency Caching System
Last updated: March 27, 2026
Quick Overview
Design a low-latency caching system handling millions of requests. Discuss consistency, availability, and performance trade-offs.
Walmart
System Design
Software Engineer
Walmart
March 27, 2026Software Engineer
Technical Screen
System Design
Medium
212
5
1,279 solved
Design a low-latency caching system handling millions of requests. Discuss consistency, availability, and performance trade-offs.
How to Approach This
- Start by clarifying functional and non-functional requirements with the interviewer.
- Estimate the scale: QPS, storage, bandwidth. This drives your design decisions.
- Draw a high-level architecture first, then deep dive into 1-2 critical components.
- Discuss trade-offs explicitly (e.g., consistency vs availability, SQL vs NoSQL).
- Address failure scenarios, monitoring, and how the system handles 10x traffic spikes.
Sharpen Your Skills on Codemia
Practice similar problems with our interactive workspace, get AI feedback, and track your progress.
Practice System Design ProblemsSample Answer
Requirements
Functional Requirements:
- Caching Layer: The system should cache frequently accessed product data (e.g., prices, availability) to reduce load on the primary database.
- Eviction Policy:...
Capacity Estimation
Assuming Walmart handles around 100 million requests per day during peak seasons:
- Requests per Second (RPS): 100 million / 86400 seconds = approx. 1157 RPS.
- Peak Load: Assume peak times se...
Submit Your Answer
Markdown supported