The document outlines a comprehensive roadmap for beginners to learn system design, detailing key concepts, components, and processes involved in creating effective systems. It covers topics such as reliability, load balancing, microservices, storage, caching, API contracts, and containerization, offering practical guidance and tools for aspiring system designers. The roadmap emphasizes the importance of foundational skills, hands-on project experience, and preparation for interviews in the tech industry.

1. System
Design
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Level Up Your Career
ROADMAP FOR
BEGINNERS
2024 EDITION

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Systems design is the process of defining elements of a
system like modules, architecture, components and their
interfaces and data for a system based on the specified
requirements.
Following are the topics or pre-requisites:
Grasp core computer science concepts like data
structures, algorithms, and operating systems.
Understand different database types (relational vs.
NoSQL) and their functionalities.
Know in detail about the System Design.
Understand why System Design is important in
software development.
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1What is System Design?

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Here's how each fits into the overall picture:
Clients: Clients are the end-users or applications that
interact with the system.
Server: Servers are systems that host resources,
services, or applications to clients.
Databases: Databases are used to store and manage
structured data.
Caching: Stores frequently accessed data in memory.
Load Balancing: Distributes incoming client requests
across multiple servers to ensure optimal resource
utilization and prevent overload on any single server.
Proxies: Act as intermediaries between clients and
servers, forwarding requests and responses.
Scaling: Increases the capacity of the system to handle
growing loads or user bases.
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Key Components of a System
2

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Reliability and availability ensures that systems are
dependable and accessible to users.
Here's a roadmap for beginners to understand and
achieve reliability and availability:
Reliability
1.
Availability
2.
MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)
3.
MTTR (Mean Time To Repair/Recovery)
4.
High Availability Architecture
5.
SLA (Service-Level Argument)
6.
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3 System Design Basics:
Reliability and Availability

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Networking facilitates communication between different
components.
Here's how networking fits into system design roadmap:
OSI Model (Open Systems Interconnection)
1.
TCP/IP Protocol (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol)
2.
IP Address Routing
3.
DNS (Domain Name System)
4.
CDN (Content Delivery Network)
5.
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4 Networking

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A technique used to distribute workloads across multiple
computing resources, such as computers, network links, or
disks.
Understand what is Load Balancer.
Know about types of Load Balancing Algorithms:
Round Robin, Least connections, Least Response Time
and Weighted.
Understand the difference between active-passive and
active-active load balancing configurations.
Differentiate between layer 4 (transport layer) and
layer 7 (application layer) load balancing.
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5Load Balancing

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Here's a simplified roadmap for beginners to
understand consistency in system design:
Understand Weak, Eventual and Strong Consistency.
Know about the CAP Theorem:
The CAP theorem states that in a distributed
system, it is impossible to simultaneously achieve
consistency (C), availability (A), and partition
tolerance (P).
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6 Consistency

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Here's a roadmap to understand microservices
communication and proxies in system design:
Understand different communication patterns used in
microservices architecture, such as synchronous
(HTTP, RPC) and asynchronous (message queues,
event-driven).
Explore service-to-service communication.
Implement resilience patterns to handle failures and
ensure fault tolerance in microservices communication.
Understand the role of proxies for routing and load
balancing.
Learn about Forward and Reverse Proxies.
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7Microservices and Proxies

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A roadmap to understand storage in system design:
Understand the difference between block, file, and
object storage.
Know about types of storage: Volatile and Non-Volatile.
Understand RAID configurations for data redundancy
and performance improvement:
RAID 0 offers striping for performance.
RAID 1 provides mirroring for data redundancy.
RAID 5 and RAID 6 use parity for redundancy and storage
efficiency.
RAID 10 combines mirroring and striping for both
redundancy and performance.
Understand the architecture of HDFS, including
Namenode, Datanode, and Secondary Namenode.
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8Storage

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Understand the role of message queues in
asynchronous communication between different
components of a system.
Explore common use cases for message queues.
Learn about popular message queue systems like
Kafka and RabbitMQ.
Understand the role of distributed file systems like GFS
(Google File System) in storing large volumes of data
across multiple nodes in a distributed environment.
Learn about GFS architecture.
Explore the design principles behind GFS, such as
chunking, replication, and atomic operations.
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9 Message Queues and File
Systems

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A technique used to temporarily store copies of data in a
cache which is a high-speed data storage layer.
Familiarize yourself with types of Caching:
In-memory cache, Distributed cache, Database
cache, Web caching
Differentiate between Key-Value Database and
Caching.
Understand the challenges of cache invalidation and
consistency maintenance:
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10 Caching

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Understand the importance of choosing appropriate
data formats for API contracts - JSON, XML or
Protocol Buffers.
Implement authentication mechanisms to secure API
endpoints and control access to resources - Token-
based, API Keys or OAuth.
Implement rate limiting to prevent abuse and ensure
fair usage of API resources - Throttling, Quotas and
Dynamic Rate Limiting.
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11API Contracts

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Docker:
Learn about Docker as a containerization platform
for packaging, distributing, and running applications.
Understand Docker concepts such as images,
containers, volumes, and Dockerfile.
Explore Docker CLI commands for building,
managing, and deploying containerized applications.
Kubernetes:
Familiarize yourself with Kubernetes for automating
deployment, scaling, of containerized applications.
Understand Kubernetes concepts- deployments,
replica sets, services, and ingress controllers.
Explore Kubernetes CLI commands.
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12 Containerization

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13 Build System Design
Skills
A WhatsApp like Chat System
Improve your system design skills through continuous
practice and application architecture deep dive. It involves
learning foundational principles, applying them to real-world
scenarios across different technological domains.

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Here are a list of tools to make diagrams for your systems:
Draw.io/Diagrams.net: A free, open-source tool for
creating various diagrams directly in your browser.
Excalidraw.com: An online whiteboard for sketch-style,
collaborative diagramming.
Lucidchart: A user-friendly, web-based diagramming
tool with extensive templates and integration
capabilities.
Microsoft Visio: A professional diagramming tool that
offers detailed and precise diagramming with Microsoft
Office integration.
Canva: Known for graphic design, Canva also provides
simple tools for creating diagrams and flowcharts.
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14 Tools to Make Diagrams

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OTT Platform: Build a system to manage and deliver
video content efficiently to users across various devices.
ECommerce Platform: Develop a system to handle
product listings, inventory management, and online
transactions securely.
Social Media Platform: Create a platform for users to
connect, share posts, and interact.
Stock Dashboard: Design a dashboard that displays
real-time data such as stock prices or website traffic.
Taxi System: Construct an application to coordinate
ride-sharing services using real-time geospatial data.
Hotel Booking System: Develop a platform for users to
browse hotel options, make reservations, and manage
bookings with real-time availability updates.
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15Real-World Projects

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Step1 - Learn Skills: You can learn System Designing
skill by tutorials on System Design, or through Videos
on YouTube or Videos based courses. For topic
revision and recalling make short notes. You can also
learn Live from Microsoft MVP at ScholarHat.
Step2 - Build Experience: You can build hands-on
experience by building real world applications like
Social Media Platform, Stock Price Monitoring, Fraud
Detection etc.
Step3 - Empower Yourself: Build your strong profile
by mentioning all the above skills with hands-on
experience on projects. Prepare yourself with interview
Q&A about System Design to crack your next job
interview.
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How to follow this roadmap?
At ScholarHat, we believe mastering a technology
is a three-step process as mentioned below:

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Congrats!
You are just one interview away!

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Learn. Build. Empower.
SYSTEM DESIGN ROADMAP FOR BEGINNERS
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