[irq]: techie interrupted

Imagine a functional, live, operational database living on separate servers scattered around the globe in say, San Francisco, London, Dubai, Moscow, and Johannesburg, simultaneously. Not synced, replicated, or cloned — but a single database without a single location.

[…]

Data in TED is always on multiple nodes for both reliability and robustness as well as accessibility. But it is not on all nodes.

At its core, the Elastic Database relies on a set of algorithms called Global Consensus Protol, which commits thousands of transactions simultaneously and ensures that data is consistent and accurate throughout the entire set of locations (currently up to 12 nodes, and soon to be more).

[…]

“No single node has a full copy of the data,” Funke says, “but we maintain copies of the data between the nodes.”

[…]

“Our system is very unique — we monitor communications between nodes to understand bandwidth and usage,” Funke told me, “so that when we make data placement decisions, we place it where it’s being used. We can place it for optimal performance.”