Rate Limiters - System Design Basics Every Software Engineer MUST know
A rate limiter is a software mechanism used to control the rate of traffic or the rate of requests made to a networked service. It is often employed to control the amount of incoming traffic to a server in order to avoid overloading it, which could lead to poor performance or even failure.
Rate limiting is a common technique used to improve the scalability of a system, by ensuring that it can handle a high rate of traffic without overloading. It is also used to protect a system from denial-of-service attacks, by limiting the rate of traffic that a attacker can generate.
In order to implement a rate limiter, the system must keep track of the rate at which requests are being made. This can be done by tracking the number of requests made per unit of time, such as per second. The system can then compare the current rate to a desired limit, and take action if the limit is exceeded.
There are a number of different ways to take action when a limit is exceeded. The most common is to simply drop any incoming requests that would cause the limit to be exceeded. Another option is to queue incoming requests and process them at a later time, when the rate of traffic has decreased.
Rate limiters are an essential part of any system that needs to handle a high rate of traffic. By carefully controlling the rate of traffic, they can help to ensure that the system remains responsive and scalable.
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